SLAVES Synonyms: 134 Similar and Opposite Words

slaves 1 of 2

noun

plural of slave

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

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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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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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

Not far away, the natural over-water rock arch of Devil’s Bridge is both a stunning landmark and tragic reminder, its name a nod to the number of slaves who sought escape from plantation life by jumping from it to their deaths in the rough waters below. —

Duncan Madden, Forbes.com, 1 June 2026 Juneteenth marks the events of June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas when the last Black slaves of the Confederacy were ordered free following the arrival of Union troops. —

Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 1 June 2026 Whites transported slaves into this land. —

Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 May 2026 Not only were slaves freed, with no compensation to their owners, but they were immediately granted all the rights of French citizens. —

Jeremy D. Popkin, The Conversation, 28 May 2026 The bill, expected to be adopted by the National Assembly, will repeal Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies. —

ABC News, 27 May 2026 Indigenous people who were not enslaved resented being treated like slaves (colonists felt the same). —

Literary Hub, 26 May 2026 So academics on the left and newspapers and so on, essentially saying that the American Revolution was all about slavery and that Britain was allowing the slaves to be freed, and all of this, so hooray for Britain, which was a very improbable development. —

Sean Woods, Rolling Stone, 25 May 2026 Before that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, church institutions and even popes — Gregory the Great — had slaves, Kellerman said. —

Nicole Winfield, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 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

Noun

In Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana, jogti hijras, jogins, or jogappas are trans women who devote themselves in temples as special servants to the goddess Yellamma.

— Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026
As previously noted, one of the gifts of Russian greats that Saunders most celebrates is their way of locating complex truths in the stuff of ordinary lives—their towns and farms, and their families, their servants; their animals.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 May 2026