slave 1 of 2

1
as in servant
a person who is considered the property of another person many American slaves reached freedom in the North through the network known as the Underground Railroad

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2
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work unappreciated office slaves who perform the necessary but tedious task of filing paperwork

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slave

2 of 2

verb

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 slave
Noun
No longer a slave, Ashur has clawed his way to power, owning the same ludus that once owned him. Aaron Couch, HollywoodReporter, 30 Oct. 2025 No one today is a slave or a slave-owner, but California would treat its diverse residents as such based on the identity of their ancestors. Andrew Quinio, Oc Register, 29 Oct. 2025
Verb
Defined by exhaustion from slaving away at the ironing board while confronting the latest family crisis, Angela is quite capable of whipping up baloney sandwiches with mayonnaise for all and functions as a wise-cracking, big-hearted den mother. Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 4 Aug. 2025 However, the worse the prison’s conditions become — as the workers are forced to slave away on secret Death Star parts with no promise of release — the more Kino is pushed to join Cassian and his brewing prisoner revolt. Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 21 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for slave
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slave
Noun
  • Nonetheless, the two become close, to the degree that they are compared to Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho Panza.
    Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025
  • Their society was hierarchical, with those below the caciques known as the nitaínos (elites), behiques (perhaps shamans), and the naborías (usually servants and commoners).
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • In the early twentieth century, two groups of Indians living in America, young intellectuals and working-class laborers, had very different experiences of the country.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The actions of delivery truck drivers, warehouse laborers and many others can be tracked and sifted, too.
    Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • That means that while some other federal workers have labored without pay for a month, CJA panel attorneys such as Foster and Binninger have worked without pay since before July 3, when the CJA funding officially expired.
    Alex Riggins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Nov. 2025
  • The Dodgers then knocked off the Giants in the NL Division Series, though Scherzer lost his Game 3 start – allowing three hits and a run on Evan Longoria’s game-deciding homer while laboring seven innings and 110 pitches.
    Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 26 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Plus, bail bondsmen are the ultimate local rent seekers.
    Dan Gooding Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Such a bond limits a defendant from relying on a bail bondsman and the use of collateral.
    Perry Vandell, AZCentral.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • The listener is no longer an outsider from the polite world of public broadcasting, or podcasting, but a tired factory worker longing for relief.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Nov. 2025
  • In Uttar Pradesh, a development initiative provided community health workers with a smartphone app that combined diagnostic and treatment instructions with a client-management program.
    John Cassidy, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • And problems continue despite the flight cancellations designed to relieve stress on controllers struggling to deal with the shutdown.
    Emma Tucker, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Entry-level workers experiment freely and the C-suite sees strategic value, yet middle managers often struggle to bridge the gap.
    Feon Ang, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Patriarchal cultures reduce women to economic dependence, treating them as a form of chattel to be traded among families.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
  • There was no forgetting the notorious Confederate prison camps like Andersonville and Salisbury, the Confederate pogrom at Fort Pillow, and the fact that the South had seceded in the first place to perpetuate and expand an elite-serving economy based on human chattel.
    Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 5 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Let’s strive for greater together.
    Essence, Essence, 6 Nov. 2025
  • The development comes as Netflix strives to become more competitive with its peers in the battle to win ad dollars from Madison Avenue.
    Brian Steinberg, Variety, 5 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Slave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slave. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.

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