CHATTEL Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

chattel

noun

ˈcha-tᵊl

Definition of chattel

as in slave

a person who is considered the property of another person an amendment to end the keeping of humans as chattel

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in possession

chattels plural transportable items that one owns packed up all her chattels and moved to a new state

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of chattel Before meeting Rael-Gálvez, Daria Celeste Landress had learned while researching her family history that three Indigenous ancestors had been listed in historical documents as chattel, alongside furniture, houses, and trees. — Geraldo Cadava, New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2026 Patriarchal cultures reduce women to economic dependence, treating them as a form of chattel to be traded among families. — Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025 There was no forgetting the notorious Confederate prison camps like Andersonville and Salisbury, the Confederate pogrom at Fort Pillow, and the fact that the South had seceded in the first place to perpetuate and expand an elite-serving economy based on human chattel. — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 5 Oct. 2025 Only a racist would dare to defend or dismiss slavery, which stripped Africans of human rights and enslaved them as chattel to pick cotton on Southern plantations. — Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for chattel

Recent Examples of Synonyms for chattel

Noun

There is a case in the exhibit’s second gallery dedicated to this topic, including a list of slaves who landed in Cuba.

— Kaitlyn Harvey, AJC.com, 23 July 2026
This Pulitzer-winning neo-slave narrative reimagines the Underground Railroad as a real subterranean network, in a Sisyphean allegory that illustrates the relentless metamorphoses of white supremacy and Black resistance.

— Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 22 July 2026

Definition of slave

Noun

Coming off a 4-0 loss to Orlando City on Wednesday to restart their MLS season after a two-month World Cup break, the Quakes dominated possession and outshot the Galaxy 19-9.

— Harold Gutmann, Mercury News, 26 July 2026
Dyer was in possession of money stolen from the bank, and is being held in the City of Denton jail, police said.

— Mary Ella Hastings July 24, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 July 2026

Definition of possession

Noun

In an alternate universe, one without the stakes and the frenzy bubbling in the distance, Skubal might have gone about things differently.

— Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 22 July 2026
And to understand it, and to comprehend that kind of thing, is a good way to keep your mind open to learning new things and working new things into your sphere.

— Jim Ryan, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026