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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Many Black Americans fled this violent system of peonage and terror in the Great Migration, moving to cities such as Gary and Pittsburgh for a better life.—
John E. Jackson Sr,
Chicago Tribune,
16 June 2026
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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
Noun
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On the other hand, the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims that withholding privileges or credits constituted involuntary servitude.—
Julia Bowling,
The Conversation,
29 May 2026
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In 2022, an eighty-year-old Pakistani American woman, Zahida Aman, and two of her sons were found guilty of forcing a woman from Pakistan into domestic servitude at their home in Virginia.—
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Supporters of reparations argue the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa and the Caribbean generations later.—
Jasmine Baehr,
FOXNews.com,
21 June 2026
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Juneteenth, which is the newest federal holiday, marks the official end of slavery in the United States when Union troops arrived in Texas to announce that the last enslaved people were finally free.—
Raymond Strickland,
CBS News,
21 June 2026
Noun
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Making Juneteenth a national holiday is the closest our country has gotten to acknowledging the truth about enslavement and its vestiges.—
Marcus Anthony Hunter,
Time,
19 June 2026
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Ibn Said died in 1864 after almost 60 years of enslavement, nearly 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.—
Leila Tarakji,
The Conversation,
17 June 2026
Noun
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In most cases, especially in North America, the industry steered away from the yoke.—
Robert Duffer,
AJC.com,
19 June 2026
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The four-pocket style is unlined, except for the yoke, which gives its shoulders some structure but allows the rest of the light construction to drape easily.—
Justin Fenner,
Robb Report,
17 June 2026
Noun
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The 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to those who were held in bondage, was ratified in December 1868 and the 15th Amendment, extending voting rights to Black men was ratified in February 1870.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2026
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Shibari, or Japanese rope bondage, is a beautiful art form, blending technique and creativity, where knots are carefully designed, and the bounded body is the canvas.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Serfdom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/serfdom. Accessed 22 Jun. 2026.
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