Definition

1. Noun:
   • The practice or institution of owning human beings as property: A system where individuals (slaves) are legally considered the property of others (slave owners) and are forced to work without personal freedom or rights.
   • The condition of being a slave; a state of subjection or forced labor: The state of being under the complete control and domination of another person, often involving harsh treatment and the denial of liberty.
   • Hard, exhausting labor or work done under harsh conditions: Figuratively used to describe a situation of severe toil or drudgery that feels oppressive and inescapable.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The abolition of slavery was a long and difficult struggle. (The legal end of the practice of owning people was a prolonged and hard fight.)
  • After the war, the former slaves were freed from slavery. (After the conflict, the people who were previously owned were liberated from their condition of bondage.)
  • His job felt like a form of modern slavery, with its endless hours and low pay. (His employment seemed like a contemporary type of oppressive, forced labor.)

Advanced Usage

• "Wage slavery": A critical term describing a situation where a person is entirely dependent on wages for survival, with the implication that their economic dependence is so complete it resembles a lack of freedom.
  • Some philosophers argued that the industrial system created a new kind of wage slavery.
• "Mental slavery": A state of being psychologically dominated or limited by certain ideas, traditions, or systems.
  • The book urges readers to free themselves from the mental slavery of outdated beliefs.

Variants and Related Words

• Slave (n): A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.
• Slave (v): To work excessively hard.
• Enslavement (n): The action of making someone a slave; the state of being enslaved.
• Slavish (adj): Showing no attempt at originality; copying or obeying without question.

Synonyms

• Bondage: The state of being a slave or being bound to service.
• Servitude: The condition of being a slave or being forced to work for someone.
• Thralldom/Thrall: The state of being in someone's power or having great difficulty escaping an influence.

Related Phrases

• To be sold into slavery: To be sold, typically against one's will, to become a slave.
  • Captives from the village were sold into slavery.
• Abolition of slavery: The official ending of the legal practice of owning slaves.
  • The 19th century saw the abolition of slavery in many countries.

Related Idioms

• "Freed from the slavery of...": Liberated from a controlling or oppressive habit, system, or situation.
  • With the new software, she was freed from the slavery of manual data entry.

Noun

1. work done under harsh conditions for little or no pay
2. the practice of owning slaves
3. the state of being under the control of another person