as in slaves
a person in the past who belonged to a low social class and who lived and worked on land owned by another person
Medieval serfs who tended land owned by a lord.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of serfs
Slaves, serfs, peasants, and wage workers mostly understood that what was being struck was a hammer blow on their behalf.
—
Jack Sheehan
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Jack Sheehan
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for serfs
Noun
-
It was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
5 Oct. 2025
-
The web of Atlantic trading routes and solidarity among maritime workers, many of them Black, meant fugitive slaves’ chances of reaching freedom were better below deck than over land.—
Eric Foner,
The New York Review of Books,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
In the trailer, Bettany walks up to a white mansion and is greeted by human servants who are really just recreated AI programs.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
11 Oct. 2025
-
The servants of this democratic republic’s machinery are, in truth, nothing but members of a mafia set up to plunder the island’s riches—and the West is complicit, with its own interests in the riches underground, in the ocean, from the soil.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Serfs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/serfs. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share