as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
people freed from bondage
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Recent Examples of bondage
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
For a stroll back in time, bucolic Natchez, MS offers tourists a comforting view of the antebellum South, glossing over such inconvenient realities as millions of people held in bondage.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2025
This will be a great day to get the hostages away from their bondage and their torture.
—Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 12 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bondage
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
For a stroll back in time, bucolic Natchez, MS offers tourists a comforting view of the antebellum South, glossing over such inconvenient realities as millions of people held in bondage.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2025
This will be a great day to get the hostages away from their bondage and their torture.
—Sarah Fortinsky, The Hill, 12 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bondage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bondage
slavery
Noun
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Fulton County Reparations Task Force, a volunteer group in Georgia’s most populous county, recently submitted a 636-page report on the harms the municipality dealt through slavery and discrimination against Black residents.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
8 Jan. 2026
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When Connecticut receives a report of human trafficking – or modern slavery – multiple agencies collaborate to determine the situation, rescue the victim and provide necessary services like housing, health care and mental health support, and prosecute the offender.—
Kaitlin McCallum,
Hartford Courant,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bondage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bondage. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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