PEONAGE Synonyms: 29 Similar and Opposite Words

peonage

noun

Definition of peonage

as in serfdom

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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 peonage Many Black Americans fled this violent system of peonage and terror in the Great Migration, moving to cities such as Gary and Pittsburgh for a better life. — John E. Jackson Sr, Chicago Tribune, 16 June 2026 Ryan Coogler didn’t want to hide anymore The film conveys two forms of peonage prominent in the 1930s South—labor arrangements not far removed from slavery. — Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, 2 May 2025 The Black community’s relationship with growing food is colored by exploitive practices, from slavery to sharecropping, tenant farming and peonage, or debt servitude. — Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2024 Convict leasing, also called peonage, juxtaposed the infrastructure of the Old English debtor’s prison with the barbarism of chattel slavery to bolster American capitalism. — Phillip Vance Smith, JSTOR Daily, 1 Feb. 2024 See All Example Sentences for peonage

Recent Examples of Synonyms for peonage

Noun

Or that Franciscan fathers — members of an order dedicated to lives of poverty and humility — forced tribes to give up their foods, customs and religion in the name of Christ, rewarding them with serfdom.

— Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 4 July 2026
Datebook Picks If Firs is a vestige of serfdom, Joseph O’Malley as eternal graduate student Pétya forecasts the coming revolution.

— Theater Critic, San Francisco Chronicle, 5 Feb. 2026

Definition of serfdom

Noun

Six months later, the ratification of the 13th Amendment permanently ended slavery in the United States.

— ABC News, ABC News, 7 Oct. 2026
Many abolitionists and Quakers – who fought to ban slavery – initially supported the colonization society’s removal efforts as a means for helping Black residents escape the cruelty of American laws, especially the Fugitive Slave Acts.

— Karen Masterson, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of slavery

Noun

With polished prose and impeccable research, historian Philbrick unravels the Golden State’s ties to profit, enslavement and white supremacy.

— Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Earling gives a voice to the young girl Sacajewea, creating a shattering first-person account of her enslavement, her grief, and her endurance, re-centering her in a brutal history.

— The Week US, TheWeek, 28 Sep. 2026

Definition of enslavement

Noun

The National Park Service is revising interpretations at its sites to offer an upbeat rendering of human bondage, if slavery is mentioned at all.

— Drew Gilpin Faust, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026
The idea called for Axl and Erin to be seen in various scenes involving bondage.

— Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of bondage

Noun

One of the leading explanations for its origin goes back to an older meaning of the word ‘bucket’ — a beam or yoke from which animals could be suspended during slaughter.

— Jim Dudlicek, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026
Second were unarmed passengers who subdued the armed attacker before one pulled back on the yoke to level the aircraft, drawing on knowledge from an air-disaster documentary.

— Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of yoke

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“Peonage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peonage. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of peonage

noun

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