slave 1 of 2

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

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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

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slave

2 of 2

verb

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of slave
Noun
Tubman, the abolitionist and slave rescuer, would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said way back in 2016. William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 12 Oct. 2025 The bookstore continues to have a section called African American History, featuring such books as Henry Louis Gates’s collection of nineteenth-century slave narratives. Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
Defined by exhaustion from slaving away at the ironing board while confronting the latest family crisis, Angela is quite capable of whipping up baloney sandwiches with mayonnaise for all and functions as a wise-cracking, big-hearted den mother. Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 4 Aug. 2025 However, the worse the prison’s conditions become — as the workers are forced to slave away on secret Death Star parts with no promise of release — the more Kino is pushed to join Cassian and his brewing prisoner revolt. Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for slave
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slave
Noun
  • In the trailer, Bettany walks up to a white mansion and is greeted by human servants who are really just recreated AI programs.
    Jordan Moreau, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
  • The servants of this democratic republic’s machinery are, in truth, nothing but members of a mafia set up to plunder the island’s riches—and the West is complicit, with its own interests in the riches underground, in the ocean, from the soil.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • This film exposes the harsh contrast between the lives of people who enjoy cutting-edge technology in Silicon Valley and the laborers in the Global South who teach the machines to see.
    Matthew Carey, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Finding enough workers to fill open landscaping positions has long been a struggle, even when firms can bring in foreign laborers.
    Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • At 41 weeks, she was induced and labored for hours before doctors determined an emergency C-section was necessary.
    Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Already labored by national debt levels around double the European target, in September the French economy was downgraded by credit ratings agency Fitch.
    Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • There is the obvious challenge in terms of the shortfall of workers in industries like agriculture, which could soon lead to food shortages and higher prices, according to the Labor Department.
    Diane Brady, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The lawmakers will urge the administration to support federal workers and prevent a spike in health care costs, which are the reason most Senate Democrats have opposed reopening the government.
    Bart Jansen, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • According to Edwards, Brooke deliberately portrayed Arabella as struggling to adapt to her new home and her Canadian identity.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 18 Oct. 2025
  • As the team struggles with grief, Sharon decides to pull Station 42 off active duty entirely, rather than assign a new captain.
    Alamin Yohannes, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Plus, bail bondsmen are the ultimate local rent seekers.
    Dan Gooding Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Such a bond limits a defendant from relying on a bail bondsman and the use of collateral.
    Perry Vandell, AZCentral.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • At the same time, Newcastle teams strive for victory.
    George Caulkin, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Managing the performance of the current car while working on the 2026 challenger is a tough balance that teams are striving to achieve, with some even ending the development of the current car.
    Saajan Jogia, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • There was no forgetting the notorious Confederate prison camps like Andersonville and Salisbury, the Confederate pogrom at Fort Pillow, and the fact that the South had seceded in the first place to perpetuate and expand an elite-serving economy based on human chattel.
    Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 5 Oct. 2025
  • The term encomienda refers to a kind of slavery, but indios encomendados, or commended Indians, weren’t considered private property, or chattel.
    Greg Grandin September 23, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Slave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slave. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

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