slaves 1 of 2

noun

plural of slave
1
as in servants
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in laborers
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

slaves

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of slave
as in labors
to devote serious and sustained effort slaving over a hot stove

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 slaves
Noun
The idea of animals as slaves of their instincts or mindless automatons evaporates. — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026 Like horses, people held as slaves were generally treated by property law as things, not persons. — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026 In the 1800s, slaves stood on the southern bank and looked across to freedom. — Hannah Agran, Midwest Living, 12 Sep. 2026 Well, our opponent was on the side that wanted to keep using slaves. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026 Except, maybe, for Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, or FDR, who started many social benefit programs. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 8 Sep. 2026 Its citizens held slaves, some of whom were shackled for committing adultery. — Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2026 New York Life Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company and American International Group, known as AIG, were some of the businesses that listed previously disclosed ties to slaves and slaveholders. — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 28 Aug. 2026 The Christiana Riot, also known as the Christiana Resistance, occurred in Christiana, Pennsylvania, where free Black people and escaped slaves successfully resisted a federal marshal’s raid to capture four fugitive slaves. — USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Verb
Things are equally akilter in his family’s home, with his mother now sitting on the couch watching TV while his father slaves away in the kitchen. — Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slaves
  1. servants
  2. laborers
  3. labors
  4. bondmen
  5. workers
  6. struggles
  7. strives
  8. works
Noun
  • Banks paid millions of dollars by today’s standards to bring along a botanist, artists, servants, his greyhound and scientific equipment.
    — Saar Shahar, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The remains of these servants, or retainers, were first excavated from the funerary complexes at Abydos, eastern Egypt, which date from around 3000 BC, in the 1920s.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of servants
Noun
  • Meanwhile, $12 million will go to a fund supporting out-of-work entertainment industry laborers.
    — Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Without fiefdoms structuring the distribution of land, the division of labor, and the provision of military protection, agents of state coercion were needed to ensure that former serfs would serve as wage laborers.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of laborers
Verb
  • Thoroughly unimpressed by her suburban idyll, and evidently unmoved by her responsibilities as wife and mother, Denise labors in her basement on a novel whose protagonist wishes to forsake her family for a life in New York.
    — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Every man and woman who labors in the construction industry deserves that.
    — Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026
Definition of labors
Noun
  • That is the standard set for bringing weapons and cellphones into a secure area, safeguarding department property, monitoring the radio, misusing department letterhead, badges or insignia, secondary employment violations, and recommending bondsmen or attorneys to inmates.
    — Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 29 May 2026
  • Plus, bail bondsmen are the ultimate local rent seekers.
    — Dan Gooding Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
Definition of bondmen
Noun
  • As part of orchestrating this project, Simon was also involved in securing visas for the various international performers, encountering in the process the uneven access to travel for cultural workers across classes, nationalities, and milieus.
    — Stephanie Wambugu, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The circumstances and cultural details may vary, but these unequal power dynamics between families and their domestic workers exist everywhere, to different degrees.
    — Annika Pham, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of workers
Verb
  • In bonds, France’s problem is America’s problem A lot of eyes are on the French bond market right now as Paris struggles to deal with its national debt.
    — Jim Edwards, Fortune, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Today, Los Angeles struggles as productions flee to places including New Jersey, Georgia, London and Albuquerque, which are taking their turns as urban shape-shifters.
    — Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of struggles
Verb
  • Katie strives to use catering companies that adhere to the teachings of the Make America Healthy Again movement, one regular guest says, which encourages the consumption of raw milk and the avoidance of seed oils.
    — Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Duplan strives to make individual rooms part of his music, regardless of location.
    — William Jones, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of strives
Verb
  • Though Calvin’s children and sister Ruth (Willow Kean), who works as Snook’s Arms Harbor Master, realize there are very few resources left to hold on to, Calvin digs in his heels, determined to find a way forward.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
  • But the setup only works with regular, honest conversations about who pays for what.
    — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of works

Browse Nearby Words

slavery
slaves
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Cite this Entry

“Slaves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slaves. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

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