as in serfdom
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Recent Examples of peonage
The Black community’s relationship with growing food is colored by exploitive practices, from slavery to sharecropping, tenant farming and peonage, or debt servitude.
—
Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2024
Further, this much control over the autonomy of an athlete’s rights to their own NIL rights combined with a financial obligation could also trigger scrutiny under the 13th Amendment, which, in addition to abolishing slavery, placed prohibitions on peonage (i.e., working against your will).
—Joe Sabin, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
The Wilberforce Act covers physical abuse and peonage, which is forced labor.
—Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 6 June 2024
Convict leasing, also called peonage, juxtaposed the infrastructure of the Old English debtor’s prison with the barbarism of chattel slavery to bolster American capitalism.
—Phillip Vance Smith, JSTOR Daily, 1 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for peonage
Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2024
Further, this much control over the autonomy of an athlete’s rights to their own NIL rights combined with a financial obligation could also trigger scrutiny under the 13th Amendment, which, in addition to abolishing slavery, placed prohibitions on peonage (i.e., working against your will).
—Joe Sabin, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
The Wilberforce Act covers physical abuse and peonage, which is forced labor.
—Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 6 June 2024
Convict leasing, also called peonage, juxtaposed the infrastructure of the Old English debtor’s prison with the barbarism of chattel slavery to bolster American capitalism.
—Phillip Vance Smith, JSTOR Daily, 1 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for peonage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for peonage
Noun
-
Datebook Picks If Firs is a vestige of serfdom, Joseph O’Malley as eternal graduate student Pétya forecasts the coming revolution.—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
5 Feb. 2026
-
For them, freedom meant ending serfdom too.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Let’s go down memory lane and recall that the 13th Amendment is abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude.—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
Like the Lenten journey, the onset of Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian servitude, the onset of a 40-year march homeward to the land of promise.—
Michael Pfleger,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Does a child or children born from surrogacy into a loving environment constitute slavery?—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
Through indefatigable research, Kara fixes poorly remembered facts and makes a decent case that the publicity galvanized the movement to abolish British slavery a half century later.—
The Atlantic,
The Atlantic,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Bertha runs a Pittsburgh boardinghouse with her husband, Seth, played by Cedric the Entertainer, in 1911 and is part of an ensemble of Black characters a generation removed from enslavement.—
Zak Cheney-Rice,
Vulture,
13 May 2026
-
This seems a time to remind ourselves that the country’s historic success, wealth, and power came at a very high price—the enslavement of millions of human beings for 12 generations over the course of 246 years to build a modern nation.—
Time,
Time,
12 May 2026
Noun
-
What the restaurant represents to its supporters (and those hesitant but curious) is a shift in public interest in, and acceptance of bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadomasochism (BDSM).—
Victoria M. Walker,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
15 May 2026
-
Wheatley was born in West Africa before being kidnapped and enslaved, and wrote timeless, staggering lyrics of elegy and Biblical allusion while enduring the bondage of slavery.—
Time,
Time,
12 May 2026
Noun
-
There's no steering yoke or room for a driver because a driver or staff member isn't needed for operation.—
Charles Singh,
USA Today,
11 May 2026
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No one’s going to be stuck in a hand-over-hand situation like in a Tesla, with its horrid implementation of a yoke.—
Joel Feder,
The Drive,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Peonage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peonage. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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