serfdom

noun

Definition of serfdomnext
as in peonage

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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 serfdom Kollwitz’ life also coincided with the final days of aristocratic feudalism and serfdom in Germany and the nation’s economic transition to Industrialism. — Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025 Their desire for freedom was at the same time a denunciation of serfdom. — Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025 As the Big Three continue to drive down the road to serfdom, car production will continue in the United States. — The Editors, National Review, 18 Sep. 2023 Russian officers still treated their peasant soldiers as little better than serfs (and serfdom would not be abolished in Russia for another 50 years). — Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2022 See All Example Sentences for serfdom
Recent Examples of Synonyms for serfdom
  1. peonage
  2. servitude
  3. slavery
  4. enslavement
  5. yoke
  6. bondage
  7. servility
Noun
  • In some cases, preexisting latifundia were modernized and adapted to the needs of export commodity production, frequently on the basis of outright slavery or any number of coercive arrangements like debt peonage and sharecropping.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026
  • 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
Definition of peonage
Noun
  • There is virtually no chance Clark saw his time in the league as comparable to servitude.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Fertile women known as Handmaids are forced into reproductive servitude.
    — Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of servitude
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
  • 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
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
  • Though the national independence be blurred by the servility of individuals, though freedom and equality have been proclaimed only to leave room for a monstrous display of slave-dealing and slave-keeping .
    — Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026
Definition of servility

Browse Nearby Words

serf
serfdom
serfdoms
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Cite this Entry

“Serfdom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/serfdom. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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