slave state
noun
1
: a state of the U.S. in which slavery was legal until the Civil War
2
: a nation subjected to totalitarian rule
Examples of slave state in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Massachusetts has never been a slave state, becoming the first to abolish the practice in 1783 — six years before the 1789 ratification of the U.S. Constitution, according to the state’s official website.
—
Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 26 Nov. 2025
Expansionists got Missouri admitted as a slave state, with protections enshrined for slavery south of Missouri’s Southern border—the 36°30’ latitude line.
—Time, 17 Nov. 2025
For more than two centuries, such burial grounds, especially those in the former American slave states, have often been erased or obscured – paved over by parking lots, built upon by highways or private development, or simply left unknown and untended.
—Joanna Gilmore, The Conversation, 29 Oct. 2025
Established by the mill and ferry entrepreneur Robert Harper in 1747, Harpers Ferry assumed national importance in 1796 when President George Washington ordered the purchase of land there, in the slave state of Virginia, for a gun factory.
—Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
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Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 26 Nov. 2025
Expansionists got Missouri admitted as a slave state, with protections enshrined for slavery south of Missouri’s Southern border—the 36°30’ latitude line.
—Time, 17 Nov. 2025
For more than two centuries, such burial grounds, especially those in the former American slave states, have often been erased or obscured – paved over by parking lots, built upon by highways or private development, or simply left unknown and untended.
—Joanna Gilmore, The Conversation, 29 Oct. 2025
Established by the mill and ferry entrepreneur Robert Harper in 1747, Harpers Ferry assumed national importance in 1796 when President George Washington ordered the purchase of land there, in the slave state of Virginia, for a gun factory.
—Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for slave state
Cite this Entry
“Slave state.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave%20state. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
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