slave

noun \ ˈslāv \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Examples: slave in a Sentence

Definition of slave

1 : a person held in servitude as the chattel of another

2 : one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence

3 : a device (such as the printer of a computer) that is directly responsive to another

4 : drudge, toiler

See slave defined for English-language learners

See slave defined for kids

Examples of slave in a Sentence

He treats her like a slave.
Do it yourself! I'm not your slave!

Recent Examples of slave from the Web

These states argued that their slave populations should count towards their allocation of seats in the House and the weight given to their preferences when choosing a president; the other states resisted.

— The Economist, "America’s electoral system gives the Republicans advantages over Democrats," 12 July 2018
Nathan Bedford Forrest, the prewar slave trader who presided over the massacre of black federal soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tenn., in 1864 and went on to help establish the Ku Klux Klan, was never charged with a crime.

— fergus m. bordewich, WSJ, "‘The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee’ Review: The Cost of Conciliation," 12 July 2018
Its ornamental panels, which pay tribute to decorative ironwork on buildings crafted by slaves and free African-American artisans in cities like New Orleans, possessed a delicate beauty when viewed at close range.

— blair kamin, chicagotribune.com, "The national African-American museum still stirs the soul — and drops hints of what to expect at the Obama Presidential Center," 11 July 2018
Gordon Brown gave Barack Obama a desk set carved from the wood of an anti-slave ship.

— a.a. gill, A-LIST, "Fraught, But It Counts," 4 July 2018
Douglass’ speech preceded the Emancipation Proclamation by more than 10 years, and the justice sought by the former slave would be bought in blood just four score and seven years following the nation’s founding.

— tim sullivan, The Courier-Journal, "However polarized our politics seem, America has made it through worse," 3 July 2018
Certainly the memories of those Americans who were held as slaves defy any effort to minimize their suffering, but for most in the 13 colonies things were not that intolerable at all.

— chris stirewalt, Fox News, "The new trustbusters," 3 July 2018
This isn’t ideal for belay slaves who spend hours at attention while their partners work a project and milk every hanging rest.

— hayden carpenter, Outside Online, "Testing Wild Country's Revo Belay Device," 2 July 2018
Her birthplace is not unlike Charlottesville, where in 1769 Jefferson's slaves built Monticello under his design and direction, and where last August, white nationalist groups converged on the city, leaving in their wake deadly violence.

— samantha willis, Glamour, "Thomas Jefferson Owned Hundreds of Slaves. Now, a Black Woman Will Run His Foundation.," 29 June 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of slave

Middle English sclave, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus, from Sclavus Slav; from the frequent enslavement of Slavs in central Europe during the early Middle Ages

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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slave Synonyms

Other Government and Politics Terms

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

slave

verb

Definition of slave

slaved; slaving

transitive verb

1 archaic : enslave

2 : to make directly responsive to another mechanism

intransitive verb

1 : to work like a slave : drudge

2 : to traffic in slaves

See slave defined for English-language learners

Examples of slave in a Sentence

I slaved all morning to get the work done on time.
She's been slaving away at her homework.

Recent Examples of slave from the Web

There is no need to slave over the hot oven or bathe in flour to impress the people on your holiday gift list.

— Indianapolis Star, "Quick-Fix Food Gifts," 5 July 2018
At the centerpiece is Seymour, the nebbish sad sack who slaves away in Mushnik's Skid Row Florist.

— theodore p. mahne, NOLA.com, "Rivertown sets up a campy and funny 'Little Shop of Horrors'," 8 May 2018
Both of the game's Windows SKUs were given new life pretty much entirely by Steam Workshop contributors who slaved away at texture packs, recoloring efforts, and other quality-of-life tweaks.

— sam machkovech, Ars Technica, "Skyrim VR is coming to PC, and it marks a Bethesda first: Oculus approval [Updated]," 14 Mar. 2018
Neither Foster or Meaher were ever convicted of the crime of slaving, though Meaher was arrested at one point for his role, and Foster was forced to pay a $1,000 fine for failing to register in port after an international trip.

— ben raines, AL.com, "Wreck found by reporter may be last American slave ship, archaeologists say," 23 Jan. 2018
The University of Mississippi is acknowledging its historical connections to slave labor, slave owners and officials who set policies that stripped African Americans of voting rights after the Civil War.

— Washington Post, "Ole Miss acknowledges its use of slave labor," 7 Mar. 2018
The journal of William Foster, the captain of the Clotilda, provides a detailed historical document regarding the slaving operations in Dahomey at the time of his journey.

— connor sheets, AL.com, "Hamilton woman dies in one-car crash in Frankiln County," 18 Feb. 2018
My mom was always slaving away in the kitchen with my grandma.

— as told to jonathan kauffman and tara duggan, San Francisco Chronicle, "A collection of Christmas memories from Bay Area food people," 21 Dec. 2017
Perhaps three out of every four slaving voyages are now documented in the database.

— Smithsonian, "A Digital Archive of Slave Voyages Details the Largest Forced Migration in History," 1 May 2017

First Known Use of slave

1602

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

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slave Synonyms

Synonyms

bang away, dig (away), drudge, endeavor, grub, hump, hustle, labor, moil, peg (away), plod, plow, plug, slog, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, travail, tug, work;

Near Antonyms

break, ease (up), let up, slacken;

bum, chill, dally, dillydally, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), idle, laze, loaf, lounge, shirk, slack (off), veg out;

bask, loll, relax, repose, rest, unwind;

dabble, doodle, fool around, goof (around), hang, mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle;

attack, drive;

essay, try;

exercise, exert, overexert, overwork;

eke out, grind (out), put out, scrabble, scratch;

trudge, wade;

Phrases

sweat blood;

slave

adjective

Definition of slave

1 a : of, relating to, involving, or used for slaves or slavery

slave traders

a slave auction

slave owners

a slave economy

Many authentic slave narratives were influenced by Harriet Beecher Stowe; on the other hand, authentic slave narratives were among Stowe's primary sources for her own imaginative work, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

b : held in or forced into servitude : enslaved

born of slave parents

slave workers

c : favoring or legally permitting slavery

a slave territory

the slave states

2 : operated by remote control

the device now tucked away behind the dials isn't properly a clockwork but a … slave unit activated by an electric clock inside the bank
—The New Yorker

specifically : responding to manipulation of the master controls of an apparatus

There's also provision for attaching external slave flash units for greater flash range when using print film.
—Herbert Keppler

… had the ultimate compact-disc system—a master machine and four optional slave machines—that will load and play 250 discs altogether …
—William D. Marbach

First Known Use of slave

1576

in the meaning defined at sense 1b

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Slave

geographical name \ ˈslāv \

Definition of Slave

river 258 miles (415 kilometers) long in Canada flowing from the western end of Lake Athabasca north into Great Slave Lake

SLAVE Defined for English Language Learners

slave

noun

Definition of slave for English Language Learners

: someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay
: a person who is strongly influenced and controlled by something