1
as in servant
a person who is considered the property of another person
many American slaves reached freedom in the North through the network known as the Underground Railroad
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work
unappreciated office slaves who perform the necessary but tedious task of filing paperwork
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
slaving over a hot stove
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of slave
Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 4 June 2025
Canadians are the people who really fought and helped escaped slaves, remember the Underground Railroad went to Canada.
—J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2025
Ben Travers, IndieWire, 14 Feb. 2025
Charcoal portraits depict six of the enslaved Africans who were aboard the Amistad, the 19th-century slaving schooner that became the center of a landmark Supreme Court case.
—Kaila Philo, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slave
Noun
One vessel was renamed the USS Robert Smalls after a former slave who aided the Union in the Civil War, and the other was restyled the USNS Marie Tharp in honor of a ground-breaking oceanographic cartographer, according to the New York Times.
—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 4 June 2025
Canadians are the people who really fought and helped escaped slaves, remember the Underground Railroad went to Canada.
—J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2025
Verb
For the Outies to live their lives without a second thought to that other person slaving away underground?
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 14 Feb. 2025
Charcoal portraits depict six of the enslaved Africans who were aboard the Amistad, the 19th-century slaving schooner that became the center of a landmark Supreme Court case.
—Kaila Philo, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slave
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slave
Noun
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Advertisement What Fellowes can’t countenance are privileged people who lack the magnanimity befitting their rank and, most of all, servants who are insufficiently grateful to their benevolent employers.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
20 June 2025
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Simone’s job is to make life hell for the family’s other servants, including property manager Jose (Felix Solis), head chef Patrice (Lauren Weedman), and Missy (Britne Oldford), who doesn’t appear to have a specific job.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
22 May 2025
Noun
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Those responsible for homeland security should not be chasing laborers on farms and busboys in restaurants in order to meet quotas imposed by the White House.—
Thomas Wright,
The Atlantic,
19 June 2025
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At the same time, industrial facilities lured laborers into factories and mills as fewer were needed to work the land.—
Riley Robinson,
Christian Science Monitor,
8 June 2025
Verb
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Haliburton was laboring, and the Pacers were working around it.—
Tony East,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2025
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Indeed, where Webb got soft contact and quick outs, needing just 98 pitches to complete his seventh seven-inning outing of the season, Yamamoto labored through hitters’ counts and long at-bats, issuing a career-high five walks while finding the strike zone on just 56 of his 102 pitches.—
Jack Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
14 June 2025
Noun
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Kevin Bacon starred as the titular bondsman, with Jennifer Nettles, Damon Herriman, Beth Grant, Maxwell Jenkins, and Jolene Purdy also starring.—
Joe Otterson,
Variety,
17 May 2025
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And that’s exactly what Hub gets when attempting to arrest two criminals who have escaped bail, but who end up catching the bondsman off-guard, shooting him with a shotgun blast (a bulletproof vest saves his life) and then ultimately slitting his throat with a knife.—
Demetrius Patterson,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Warren Williams, president of CUPE Local 15, which represents unionized staff, told the Sun that twenty-nine unionized workers would lose their jobs.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
27 June 2025
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For the first time, a court had ruled against the federal government’s ability to discriminate against gay workers.—
Madelyn Harrington,
Chicago Tribune,
27 June 2025
Verb
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However, San Jose has struggled to keep pace, with the city failing to see a single construction start last year for market-rate multi-family developments over 20 units, making the Pleasant Hills project a potential bonus should it be constructed.—
Devan Patel,
Mercury News,
28 June 2025
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Now, with no practical skills to speak of, the newly unemployed Grant struggled to find work.—
Casey Cep,
New Yorker,
28 June 2025
Verb
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Kenn Ricci, founder of Flexjet, is an executive who strives to embody both while also running a business in one of the more challenging industries to be sustainable in, aviation.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
28 June 2025
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But improvements on the field are what this group strives for each year.—
Scott Thompson,
FOXNews.com,
27 June 2025
Noun
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In many jurisdictions, the appeal of collecting is further enhanced through tax advantage, with sales exempt from capital gains thanks to wine’s classification as a wasting chattel.—
Paul Caputo,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
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There is no question, the enslaved workers at the Nottoway Plantation during the antebellum era were human chattel.—
Maurice Carlos Ruffin,
Time,
21 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Slave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slave. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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