slavery

/'slævəri/

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Thân thiện

Definition

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- The book urges readers to free themselves from the mental slavery of outdated beliefs.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.

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