as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
people freed from bondage
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Recent Examples of bondage
Opposition to slavery was both widespread and constant across west African territories, from the earliest days of Atlantic slavery, as with the São Tomé rebellion and Lourenio da Silva Mendonia’s vigorous appeal against human bondage to the Vatican, all the way through to the nineteenth century.
—
Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
They were held in bondage, forced to labor long hours with no pay, provided inadequate food and shelter, and under threat of physical abuse or even death at the slightest provocation.
—Big Think, 13 Nov. 2025
Douglass’s former North Star co-editor, Martin Delany, who had been admitted to Harvard Medical School but was forced out after white students complained, responded to Dred Scott — and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 — by writing a novel whose hero escapes bondage and plots an overthrow of slavery.
—Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Rogers noted that the book argues that a central cause of the war was Anglo settlers’ determination to keep slaves in bondage after Mexico largely abolished it.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bondage
Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
They were held in bondage, forced to labor long hours with no pay, provided inadequate food and shelter, and under threat of physical abuse or even death at the slightest provocation.
—Big Think, 13 Nov. 2025
Douglass’s former North Star co-editor, Martin Delany, who had been admitted to Harvard Medical School but was forced out after white students complained, responded to Dred Scott — and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 — by writing a novel whose hero escapes bondage and plots an overthrow of slavery.
—Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Rogers noted that the book argues that a central cause of the war was Anglo settlers’ determination to keep slaves in bondage after Mexico largely abolished it.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bondage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bondage
slavery
Noun
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His parents were only a generation removed from slavery.—
Christopher DeRose,
CBS News,
21 Feb. 2026
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The exhibit on the history of slavery at the President’s House in Philadelphia was restored this week.—
Carol Quillen,
Time,
21 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bondage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bondage. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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