forced labor

noun

1
: very hard physical work that someone is forced to do
The prisoners endured years of forced labor.
2
: a group of people who are made to work very hard for no money
also : a system that allows this
The railroad was built with/by forced labor.

Examples of forced labor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web That would include companies that partner with the Chinese military or have ties to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. Erin Griffith, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2024 The system tracks vessels that carry a box that sends out radio signals, and the data has been used in the past to document overfishing and forced labor on vessels. Justine Calma, The Verge, 3 Jan. 2024 In these scenes, a girl goes on solitary and secretive routines of gathering (seemingly where bodies are buried) and of depositing (of apples beside shovels where inmates likely do forced labor). Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2023 After it was published, the U.S. Department of Labor added açaí to its list of goods produced by child or forced labor. Terrence McCoy, Washington Post, 20 Nov. 2023 Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Monday sent a letter to the Lear Corporation, the world’s biggest supplier of leather car seats, demanding that the company account for its relationships with firms suspected of engaging in Amazon deforestation and forced labor. Evan Halper, Washington Post, 25 July 2023 The lawmakers also said the U.S. should block the import of seafood tied to North Korean forced labor. Richard Vanderford, WSJ, 24 Oct. 2023 Many mining sites in these nations have been reported for systemic use of child labor, forced labor, and human rights abuses, especially for the cobalt supply chain, according to the International Energy Agency. WIRED, 20 Oct. 2023 The Chinese government has imposed a system of mass, forced labor by hundreds of thousands of Uyghyrs in Xinjiang’s sprawling cotton fields. Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, 5 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forced labor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Forced labor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forced%20labor. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Legal Definition

forced labor

noun
: the act of providing or obtaining the labor of a person by use of or threat of force, physical restraint, serious harm (as physical, psychological, financial, or reputational), or abuse of legal process
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