as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
the Fugitive Slave Act had the effect of returning enslaved people who had made it to freedom in the North to a brutal life of servitude in the South
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Recent Examples of servitude
But perhaps the consequence was that some deeper servitude had been inflicted elsewhere.
—
Rachel Cusk, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
Its clients happen to be from a more progressive section of the galaxy where thinking machines have the same rights as any human; to Murderbot, however, that reality doesn’t look much different from servitude.
—Emma Stefansky, The Atlantic, 5 July 2025
Later that year, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 June 2025
There are no piano players, there is no music without the technicians who work in a quiet servitude of maintaining these instruments.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for servitude
Rachel Cusk, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025
Its clients happen to be from a more progressive section of the galaxy where thinking machines have the same rights as any human; to Murderbot, however, that reality doesn’t look much different from servitude.
—Emma Stefansky, The Atlantic, 5 July 2025
Later that year, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime.
—Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 June 2025
There are no piano players, there is no music without the technicians who work in a quiet servitude of maintaining these instruments.
—Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for servitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servitude
slavery
Noun
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Coven is one of the tighter narratives the series has mustered, with its true horror lying in the realities of slavery in the American South.—
James Mercadante,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Oct. 2025
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While the issues roiling America today may be more nuanced than slavery, there are still stark contrasts—forces of democracy and authoritarianism that can pretty fairly be described as right and wrong.—
Miguel Sirgado,
Miami Herald,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Servitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servitude. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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