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slave

slave

746 3.4
A person legally owned by someone else who must work without pay or freedom
  • noun
  • /sleɪv/
translation icon : esclavo
  • In ancient Rome, a slave could be bought and sold like property, having no legal rights.
  • slave trade
  • former slave
  • freed slaves

But like there have been slaves for thousands of years.

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Examples

  • Naples had as many as twenty thousand slaves at any one time in the early seventeenth century.

    Academic text (2015)
  • He was an African, a slave sold to a Roman senator.

  • But like there have been slaves for thousands of years.

  • The difference being that they are slaves rather than free men.

  • And are we not the same slaves in the hands of the master?

  • Having planted, where does the slave get the tools to harvest?

  • After the war they used slaves to build the railroad from New York to San Francisco.

  • The thing is that my ancestors were slaves and your ancestors were not.

  • All the South has is slaves and cotton and arrogance.

  • In fact, Ben purchased at least two slaves before ever leaving Edgecombe County.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

captive
vsslave
57 4.6

A person or animal kept as a prisoner and not free

is the legal status of ownership combined with compulsory unpaid labor and no freedom
serf
vsslave
19 9.4

A person in the Middle Ages who must work a lord's land and cannot leave

is the broader legal ownership and forced labor concept beyond feudal land ties
thrall
vsslave
  • NSFW
4 9.9

A person who is kept as a slave and forced to work

is the modern legal concept of ownership and forced unpaid work
galley slave
vsslave
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person forced to row a ship as a slave, often meaning someone who does very hard work

is the general legal status of being owned and forced to work without pay
bondservant
vsslave
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A person who must work for another person by law, often like a servant in the past

is the broader modern idea of legal ownership and forced unpaid work
bondsman
vsslave
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A person legally forced to work for another without pay

is gender neutral and covers any person owned and forced to work
bondwoman
vsslave
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A woman who is owned by someone and forced to work

is the general term for legal ownership and compulsory unpaid work
bondmaid
vsslave
  • NSFW
1 9.9

A woman forced to work for another person without pay

is gender neutral and refers to legal ownership with compulsory unpaid work
bond servant
vsslave
  • Archaic
9.9

A person forced to work without pay for someone else

is the general label for legal ownership and forced unpaid labor
bondman
vsslave
  • Archaic
9.9

A man who is forced to work for another person and has no freedom

is neutral in gender and focuses on ownership and lack of freedom
bondswoman
vsslave
  • Archaic
9.9

A woman held as a slave who is forced to work without pay

is neutral about gender and emphasizes legal ownership and forced labor

Antonyms

freeperson
  • Archaic
9.3

A person who is not a slave and can own land and live freely

Idioms

35 7.8

To let something control you completely and leave you little choice

slave to fashion
  • Informal
1 7.2

A person who always follows the newest clothes styles, even when it costs money or comfort

Compounds

20 4.4

Work people are forced to do without pay, often under threat

17 3.6

Buying, selling, and moving people to force them to work, often from Africa to the Americas

15 6.9

Someone who keeps another person as property and forces them to work for no pay

slave ship
  • NSFW
11 7.0

A ship that carried people taken from their homelands to be forced to work across the Atlantic in the past

10 9.1

A person who buys and sells people as slaves

slave driver
  • Offensive
5 7.5

A person who makes other people work very hard in a harsh, unfair way

3 8.0

A place where people were bought and sold as property, often in the past

3 7.9

A southern United States state where the law allowed people to own other people before the American Civil War

galley slave
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A person forced to row a ship as a slave, often meaning someone who does very hard work

1 9.9

A woman forced to sell sex after being taken or sold

slave-driver
  • Offensive
1 7.5

A person who forces others to work very hard and treats them badly

1 9.9

A person who buys and sells people to force them to work without freedom

app slave
  • Offensive
8.5

A person who checks and uses phone apps all the time

A large lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada drained by the Mackenzie River

slave-maker
  • Specialized
9.9

An ant that enters other ant nests and takes young ants to raise as workers

slave-making ant
  • Specialized
9.9

An ant that attacks other ant nests and takes their young to raise as workers in its own nest

slave ant
  • Specialized
9.9

An ant that another species takes as a baby and raises to work in its nest

8.4

The buying, selling, and moving of people to be forced to work, especially Africans taken to the Americas

slave name
  • NSFW
9.9

A name someone uses when they play a submissive part in adult role-play

9.9

A person who works too much and does not rest or enjoy life

How Free

freeperson
  • Archaic
9.3
citizen
1.4
tenant
248 3.0
serf
19 9.4
bond servant
  • Archaic
9.9
slave
746 3.4

Surface Forms

slave singular
slaves plural

Etymology

Slave comes from an old word sclavus, which came from the name Slav for people from Eastern Europe who were often captured and sold in the Middle Ages. That's why slave means a person who is owned and forced to work.