slave-driver
1
7.5
- noun
- /ˈsleɪvˌdraɪvər/
- Offensive
:
explotador
- Many employees complain that their boss is a real slave-driver, expecting them to work overtime without pay.
Examples
-
Harry rides at the front of the caravan with Gustave, a sun-blackened French slave-driver.
Fiction book (2002) -
I'm the slave driver.
-
My sister's a total slave-driver.
-
And worse yet, laughed at by the slave drivers for being frightened of a corpse.
Fiction book (2001) -
I know what a dreadful slave-driver he could be.
-
The French slave-driver is about to take a drink when he hears one of the Dinka slave girls murmuring in her native tongue.
Fiction book (2002) -
They're scummy slave drivers.
Blog text (27) -
If you're applying for a corporate management position, saying "I'm a hardworking executive who's known to be a bit of a slave driver" is not an encouraging response, since this is not the ideal behavior for a manager.
Blog text (14) -
In that factory, the owner is a notorious slave-driver, pushing workers to their limits.
-
The coach was called a slave-driver for demanding excessive training from the athletes.
Synonyms
33
7.5
A person who has power and treats people cruelly or unfairly
8
7.2
A strict person who makes other people work very hard
5
7.5
A person who makes other people work very hard in a harsh, unfair way
1
8.2
A person who forces others to live and work without freedom
How Demanding
- Offensive
83
5.8
- Offensive
1
7.5
8
7.2
187
3.1
346
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Slave-driver joins slave, meaning 'a person forced to work', and driver, meaning 'someone who makes others work'. So the image of a person 'driving' workers helps explain why the word now means a very strict or cruel boss who forces people to work hard.