Definition of chattel
1
:an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (such as buildings) connected with real property
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Examples of chattel in a Sentence
at one time, the children of black slaves were also considered chattel
packed up all her chattels and moved to a new state
Recent Examples of chattel from the Web
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At the moment, the brawl is over memorials to the men who fought for the Confederate States of America, a treasonous offshoot of the United States of America that formed itself around the defense of chattel slavery.
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These statues were put up in the first place to sanitize the history of the men who fought to maintain chattel slavery and the men who later re-established white supremacy in the old Confederacy.
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Some slave owners used the peach harvest as a kind of festival for their chattel, and runaways provisioned their secret journeys in untended orchards.
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As Daenerys reminded the audience in Sunday night's episode, she was traded like chattel by her opportunistic brother Viserys.
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The discovery led to efforts to dismantle a multimillion-dollar smuggling enterprise, and the traffickers soon abandoned their human chattel in jungle camps or in crowded vessels adrift in the Andaman Sea.
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Gov. Mike Stack and his wife of security details and domestic staff amid allegations the Stacks treated them like chattel.
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Pulido was certainly enslaved, but not as chattel who could be bought and sold.
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Women are considered little more than baby-making chattel in many nations, the ones that most need lower populations.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chattel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
What is the Difference Between chattel and slave?
The word chattel is encountered in two main senses. The earlier of the two is primarily technical and refers to property, specifically property that is distinct from real estate holdings. The second meaning of chattel can excite considerable emotion, as it refers to humans as property, i.e., slaves. Chattel, slave and the less common bondman and thrall are all synonyms for a person held in servitude by another. Chattel and cattle both come to English from the same source: each is descended from the Medieval Latin word capitale, which itself traces to the Latin caput meaning “head.”
Origin and Etymology of chattel
chattel Synonyms
Synonyms
bondman (also bondsman), slave, thrallAntonyms
freemanRelated Words
bondwoman (also bondswoman), odalisque; helot, serf; bond servant, indentured servant; attendant, domestic, drudge, handmaiden (also handmaid), lackey, menial, servant, slaveyNear Antonyms
freedman, freedwoman; enslaver, slave driver, slaveholder, slaver; master, taskmasterOther Legal Terms
CHATTEL Defined for English Language Learners
Law Dictionary
legal Definition of chattel
:an item of tangible or intangible personal property;
especially
:chattel personal in this entry
Note:
In some jurisdictions the term chattel is restricted to items of tangible and movable personal property. Other jurisdictions also classify intangible assets and property items as chattels.
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chattel personal
plural chattels personal
:an item of tangible movable personal property (as livestock or an automobile) that is not permanently connected with real estate
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chattel real
plural chattels real
:an interest (as a leasehold or profit a prendre) in an item of immovable property (as land or a building) that is less than a freehold estate — compare fixture
Note:
Interests that are considered chattels real have been treated by the common law as personal property despite being interests in real property.
Origin and Etymology of chattel
Old French chatel goods, property, from Medieval Latin capitale, from neuter of capitalis chief, principal — see capital
Learn More about chattel
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See words that rhyme with chattel Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for chattel Spanish Central: Translation of chattel Nglish: Translation of chattel for Spanish speakers
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