as in peonage
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Recent Examples of serfdom
The peasants’ goal was to overturn serfdom and create a fairer society grounded on the Christian Bible.
—
Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025
That book, Caliban and the Witch, traces the emergence of witch hunts throughout medieval Western Europe amid the transition from serfdom to proto-capitalism.
—Hazlitt, 4 Sep. 2024
As the Big Three continue to drive down the road to serfdom, car production will continue in the United States.
—The Editors, National Review, 18 Sep. 2023
Russian officers still treated their peasant soldiers as little better than serfs (and serfdom would not be abolished in Russia for another 50 years).
—Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for serfdom
Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025
That book, Caliban and the Witch, traces the emergence of witch hunts throughout medieval Western Europe amid the transition from serfdom to proto-capitalism.
—Hazlitt, 4 Sep. 2024
As the Big Three continue to drive down the road to serfdom, car production will continue in the United States.
—The Editors, National Review, 18 Sep. 2023
Russian officers still treated their peasant soldiers as little better than serfs (and serfdom would not be abolished in Russia for another 50 years).
—Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2022
See All Example Sentences for serfdom
Recent Examples of Synonyms for serfdom
Noun
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Roughly 12% were of African descent — newly unshackled, technically free and already being legally recaptured under other names: peonage, vagrancy laws, convict leasing.—
Jack Hill,
Baltimore Sun,
17 May 2025
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Ryan Coogler didn’t want to hide anymore The film conveys two forms of peonage prominent in the 1930s South—labor arrangements not far removed from slavery.—
Adam Serwer,
The Atlantic,
2 May 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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Does a child or children born from surrogacy into a loving environment constitute slavery?—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
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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
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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
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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
-
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
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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Serfdom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/serfdom. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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