slavery

[sley-vuh-ree, sleyv-ree]

noun

1. the condition of being enslaved, held, or owned as human chattel or property; bondage.

   Synonyms: enthrallment, thralldom

2. a practice or institution that treats or recognizes some human beings as the legal property of others.

3. a state of subjection like that of a slave.

   He longed to escape the slavery of drug addiction.

4. severe toil; drudgery.

   Synonyms: labor, moil

slavery

/ ˈsleɪvərɪ /

noun

1. the state or condition of being a slave; a civil relationship whereby one person has absolute power over another and controls his life, liberty, and fortune

2. the subjection of a person to another person, esp in being forced into work

3. the condition of being subject to some influence or habit

4. work done in harsh conditions for low pay

Other Word Forms

• preslavery adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of slavery¹

First recorded in 1545–55; slav(e) + -ery

Synonym Study

Slavery, bondage, servitude refer to involuntary subjection to another or others. Slavery emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by an owner or master: to be sold into slavery. Bondage indicates a state of subjugation or captivity often involving burdensome and degrading labor: in bondage to a cruel master. Servitude is compulsory service, often such as is required by a legal penalty: penal servitude.

Example Sentences

Then on New Year's Eve, Baroness May's guest edit is set to cover domestic violence, trust in politics and modern slavery.

Read more on BBC

That opened the door to a boom in cotton production, but many more workers would be needed to harvest the crop—a need that planters filled with a massive expansion of slavery.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Perhaps the most impressive example of this change, in American studies, is the increased understanding of slavery’s immense impact during the morning time of the republic.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The reason that Colored children and White children went to separate schools dated way back to slavery.

Read more on Literature

It will never be accurately known how many people were kidnapped via the Middle Passage and sold into slavery.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• bondage 
• captivity 
• enslavement 
• serfdom 
• servitude 
• subjugation