CHATTEL Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

chattel

noun

ˈcha-tᵊl

Definition of chattel

as in slave

a person who is considered the property of another person an amendment to end the keeping of humans as chattel

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in possession

chattels plural transportable items that one owns packed up all her chattels and moved to a new state

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 chattel Before meeting Rael-Gálvez, Daria Celeste Landress had learned while researching her family history that three Indigenous ancestors had been listed in historical documents as chattel, alongside furniture, houses, and trees. — Geraldo Cadava, New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2026 Patriarchal cultures reduce women to economic dependence, treating them as a form of chattel to be traded among families. — 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 Only a racist would dare to defend or dismiss slavery, which stripped Africans of human rights and enslaved them as chattel to pick cotton on Southern plantations. — Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 21 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for chattel

Recent Examples of Synonyms for chattel

Noun

In slaveholding societies divided between Black and white, Jews were perceived as white and enjoyed the benefits of whiteness – including participation in the slave economy.

— Ashley Walters, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026
The idea of animals as slaves of their instincts or mindless automatons evaporates.

— J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of slave

Noun

The casing is consistent with the same caliber of weapon that Jones had in his possession when police took him into custody, a Fort Worth Police Department homicide unit detective wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit.

— Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Oct. 2026
On August 1, 2025, the day after the lease lapsed, Cathy and Salvatore sued for possession of their home in Manhattan housing court.

— Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of possession

Noun

After things go awry in the Congo, the family in The Poisonwood Bible dissolves readily.

— Sam Worley, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026
In some ways, things have changed considerably for Reid over the last year after the television adaptation of her 2019 novel, Heated Rivalry, became a cultural phenomena.

— Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 4 Oct. 2026