bondage

noun bond·age \ ˈbän-dij \

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Examples: bondage in a Sentence

Definition of bondage

1 : the tenure or service of a villein, serf, or slave

2 : a state of being bound usually by compulsion (as of law or mastery): such as

a : captivity, serfdom

b : servitude or subjugation to a controlling person or force

young people in bondage to drugs

3 : sadomasochistic sexual practices involving the physical restraint of one partner

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Examples of bondage in a Sentence

a population held in bondage
the Civil War ended over 200 years of bondage for black Africans in America

Recent Examples of bondage from the Web

Asians have faced hardships in America, but nothing compared to hundreds of years of bondage.

— andrew chow, refinery29.com, "Let's Be Real: Asian And Black Artists Aren't "Celebrating" Each Other Through Hip-Hop," 22 May 2018
Photo: bridgeman images Once freed from bondage, the children of Israel had a purpose and a destination.

— joe lieberman, WSJ, "A Holiday for the Rule of Law," 17 May 2018
That’s a reference to the sixth-century pagan Persian king who released Jews from bondage in Babylon.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Trump voters stay loyal because they feel disrespected," 14 May 2018
Despite his contributions to the Corps of Discovery, Clark refused to release York from bondage upon returning east.

— shoshi parks, Smithsonian, "York Explored the West With Lewis and Clark, But His Freedom Wouldn’t Come Until Decades Later," 8 Mar. 2018
After Willis’ arrest, a court official told PEOPLE that investigators recovered bondage equipment from his van, including handcuffs, rope, chain, a bail gag and leather restraints.

— steve helling, PEOPLE.com, "Mich. Man Kidnapped Young Mom From Her Gas Station Job and Murdered Her in 'Torture Sanctuary'," 17 May 2018
Upon emancipation in 1865, at the end of the civil war, some of the slaves who have been pressed into the Meaher family’s service ask for land in recompense for their bondage.

— The Economist, "The story of one of the last slaves imported to America," 10 May 2018
The term stands for variations of bondage, dominance, submission and masochism.

— david crary, Fox News, "'Kink community' angry at New York attorney general comments," 8 May 2018
Emancipation freed slaves only from bondage, not from destitution; the Clotilda survivors had no way of paying for their passage home.

— casey n. cep, The New Yorker, "Zora Neale Hurston’s Story of a Former Slave Finally Comes to Print," 7 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bondage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of bondage

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from bonde customary tenant, from Middle English

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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bondage Synonyms

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

BONDAGE Defined for English Language Learners

bondage

noun

Definition of bondage for English Language Learners

: the state of being a slave
: sexual activity that involves tying a person up for pleasure

BONDAGE Defined for Kids

bondage

noun bond·age \ ˈbän-dij \

Definition of bondage for Students

: the state of being a slave

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bondage

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BONDAGE Defined for English Language Learners

bondage

Definition of bondage for English Language Learners

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bondage

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