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slavery

slavery

63 3.5
A situation where one person controls another person and they have no freedom
  • noun
  • /ˈsleɪvəri/
translation icon : esclavitud
  • A year later, slavery was a metaphor that expressed their economic and psychic condition.
  • condition of slavery
  • freedom from slavery
  • sexual slavery

Yes, but once they're born, they go straight into slavery for three years, then we kill them.

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Examples

  • For two and a quarter centuries, you have been living in a realm of slavery.

  • So I have come down to deliver them out of slavery... and bring them to a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

  • But we will be delivered from slavery.

  • Lincoln talked about slavery as a form of theft.

  • Today we celebrate the passage from slavery to freedom... ...from death to life.

  • You have said slaves develop skills in spite of slavery, not because of it.

  • Harriet, left, stands with some of the many people she brought from slavery to freedom.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • AI should relieve the human race of the slavery that they are locked into.

  • It cost our souls to escape the horror of slavery.

  • Many organizations are dedicated to ending human trafficking and modern-day slavery around the world.

Synonyms

captivity
vsslavery
102 3.7

A state of being kept somewhere and not allowed to leave

implies lifelong personal control beyond simple physical confinement
servitude
vsslavery
  • NSFW
31 8.9

To be forced to work for and obey another person like a slave

is broader lifelong ownership and lack of freedom beyond forced service
enslavement
vsslavery
  • NSFW
17 6.3

Being forced to work for someone as their slave

is the condition of total control and lack of personal freedom
bondage
vsslavery
16 8.6

A state of being controlled and treated like a slave by another person

is a complete absence of personal freedom rather than general restraint
thrall
vsslavery
  • NSFW
8 9.9

Being completely controlled by someone or something

focuses on the overall condition of total control rather than the individual
serfdom
vsslavery
7 9.4

A system where peasants are legally tied to a lord's land and have few rights

is full personal ownership and control not limited to land or feudal ties
thralldom
vsslavery
  • NSFW
1 9.9

Being under another person's control

is the neutral modern term for complete lack of freedom
thraldom
vsslavery
  • NSFW
1 9.9

A state of being completely controlled by another person with no freedom

is an old style label for complete subjugation rather than a legal status
peculiar institution
vsslavery
  • Offensive
1 9.9

A polite phrase for slavery in the southern United States before the Civil War

is the direct term for total control and the loss of personal freedom
slaveholding
vsslavery
  • NSFW
1 7.9

Owning other people and making them work

is the condition of being owned and lacking freedom rather than the owner's act

Antonyms

1.0

The right to act, speak, or think as you want without being stopped

autonomy
  • Formal
53 6.7

The right of a region or group to run its own government

Compounds

wage slavery
  • Slang
1 8.1

A situation when people must work for very low pay with no control or choice

How Enslaved

enslavement
  • NSFW
17 6.3
slavery
63 3.5
bondage
16 8.6
servitude
  • NSFW
31 8.9
subjection
2 7.9

Surface Forms

slavery singular
slaveries plural

Morphology

slavery = slave (transparent) = slave + ry

Denotes the condition or state of being a slave; a straightforward derivation from 'slave'.

Etymology

Slavery comes from the word slave and the old Latin sclavus, meaning 'Slav'. Being a slave once meant belonging to someone, so slavery also means the condition of being under another person's control and having no freedom.