as in interned
required by a contract to work for a certain period of time
immigrants who came to the U.S. as indentured servants 200 years ago
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Recent Examples of indentured
Among her ancestors: John Howland, who arrived as an indentured servant; Elizabeth Tilley, who was a passenger along with her parents and married Howland three years after arriving; and Richard Warren, who helped explore Cape Cod to find areas to settle.
—
Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 27 Nov. 2024
The young man probably arrived from England in the 1630s as a cabin boy or an indentured servant.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Dec. 2023
Both the levelers among the founders and their critics agreed on where the wealth necessary for the new nation would come from: the expropriation of Native Americans, as well as from slave and indentured labor.
—Danielle Allen, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015
But most indentured people really weren’t given a choice.
—Logan Jaffe, ProPublica, 19 June 2020
Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 27 Nov. 2024
The young man probably arrived from England in the 1630s as a cabin boy or an indentured servant.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Dec. 2023
Both the levelers among the founders and their critics agreed on where the wealth necessary for the new nation would come from: the expropriation of Native Americans, as well as from slave and indentured labor.
—Danielle Allen, Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2015
But most indentured people really weren’t given a choice.
—Logan Jaffe, ProPublica, 19 June 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for indentured
Adjective
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The actual freeing of enslaved people occurred at varying times throughout the territories where slavery existed, depending on how far the Union Army had advanced.—
Hank Beckman,
Chicago Tribune,
23 June 2025
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The video, which was recorded at a store in Atlanta, Georgia, showed several cakes minimally decorated in honor of the federal holiday on June 19, which marks the 1865 emancipation of the last enslaved people in the United States.—
Betty Lin-Fisher,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
Adjective
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The film is another attempt to reinvent the zombie-movie-genre wheel wholesale, and the result is both audacious and bound to be divisive.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
24 June 2025
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The Yankees managed just five base runners off Crochet before Judge finally unloaded on a pitch, driving a towering shot that seemed bound to clank off the Citgo sign well beyond Fenway Park’s dimensions.—
Chris Kirschner,
New York Times,
14 June 2025
Adjective
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They’re housed in crowded labor camps and their passports are held by their employers, rendering them captive.—
Sonali Kolhatkar,
Sun Sentinel,
29 June 2025
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By 1987, the entire species – numbering just 22 individuals – was removed from the wild and placed into captive breeding programs at a number of zoos throughout the United States.—
GrrlScientist,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Indentured.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/indentured. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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