Synonyms of slaves

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• servants
• bondmen
• chattels
• serfs
• thralls
• domestics
• helots
• bondwomen
• menials
• attendants
• lackeys
• indentured servants
• handmaidens
• bond servants
• odalisques
• drudges

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• freemen
• freedmen
• slaveholders
• slavers
• masters
• freedwomen
• enslavers
• slave drivers
• taskmasters

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• laborers
• workers
• peons
• toilers
• grubs
• foot soldiers
• grubbers
• pluggers
• drudges
• grunts
• drones
• dogsbodies
• serfs
• drudgers
• sloggers
• workhorses

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• shirkers
• idlers
• loafers
• slugs
• sluggards
• goldbricks
• lazybones
• slouches

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• labors
• struggles
• strives
• works
• endeavors
• toils
• plows
• tugs
• drudges
• fags
• grubs
• tries
• sweats
• pegs (away)
• humps
• hustles
• digs (away)
• plugs
• bangs away
• strains
• travails
• beavers (away)
• sweats blood
• applies (oneself)
• plods
• slogs
• buckles (down)
• hammers (away)
• moils
• pitches in
• knuckles down
• attacks
• exercises
• grinds (out)
• drives
• essays
• exerts
• scratches
• digs in
• ekes out
• overworks
• overexerts
• wades
• trudges
• puts out
• scrabbles

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• eases (up)
• breaks
• slackens
• bums
• hangs (around or out)
• slacks (off)
• lets up
• lounges
• goldbricks
• chills
• loafs
• dallies
• dillydallies
• lazes
• hacks (around)
• shirks
• rests
• idles
• goofs (off)
• lolls
• plays
• footles
• reposes
• relaxes
• basks
• unwinds
• trifles
• fribbles
• hangs
• fools around
• monkeys (around)
• vegges out
• potters (around)
• hangs about
• doodles
• putters (around)
• messes around
• dabbles
• goofs (around)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of slaves

Noun

And his version is undeniably meant to speak to us now as well as to avoid some serious turnoffs, such as Odysseus’s boasts about looting and taking slaves. — Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

Notably, this happens after Odysseus slaughters Penelope’s suitors and tells Telemachus to kill the female slaves who have slept with them. — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 17 July 2026

The Slave Girls Probably the most difficult part of Homer’s Odyssey for today’s audiences to digest is the grisly fate of a group of female slaves. — Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 16 July 2026

The original panels were put in place in 2010 and told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital. — Corey Williams, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026

It was made by rich landowners who owned slaves, and it was designed to protect their power, not give ordinary people a real vote. — Hudson Crozier, The Washington Examiner, 14 July 2026

However, the words of our Founding Fathers did start the conversation to release slaves. — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 9 July 2026

In the Black Jacobins, CLR James describes the slaves of a plantation sewing mutiny through poison. — Literary Hub, 6 July 2026

Freed Black male slaves obtained that right before any woman did. — ABC News, 3 July 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