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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

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 slaves
Noun
The idea of animals as slaves of their instincts or mindless automatons evaporates. — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026 Like horses, people held as slaves were generally treated by property law as things, not persons. — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2026 In the 1800s, slaves stood on the southern bank and looked across to freedom. — Hannah Agran, Midwest Living, 12 Sep. 2026 Well, our opponent was on the side that wanted to keep using slaves. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026 Except, maybe, for Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, or FDR, who started many social benefit programs. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 8 Sep. 2026 Its citizens held slaves, some of whom were shackled for committing adultery. — Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2026 New York Life Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company and American International Group, known as AIG, were some of the businesses that listed previously disclosed ties to slaves and slaveholders. — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 28 Aug. 2026 The Christiana Riot, also known as the Christiana Resistance, occurred in Christiana, Pennsylvania, where free Black people and escaped slaves successfully resisted a federal marshal’s raid to capture four fugitive slaves. — USA Today, 25 Aug. 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slaves
  1. servants
  2. laborers
  3. labors
  4. bondmen
  5. workers
  6. struggles
  7. strives
  8. works
Noun
  • Egyptologists have long debated whether the earliest pharaohs of the First Dynasty were buried with various servants and officials to serve them in the afterlife—a form of human sacrifice.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 5 Oct. 2026
  • This is the kind of show where an opulent tea party is dramatized not just by many different plates of fancy pastries, fancy wreaths and lots of furniture, but by having all that stuff carted in by a dozen or so butlers, maids and other servants.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of servants
Noun
  • Meanwhile, $12 million will go to a fund supporting out-of-work entertainment industry laborers.
    — Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Without fiefdoms structuring the distribution of land, the division of labor, and the provision of military protection, agents of state coercion were needed to ensure that former serfs would serve as wage laborers.
    — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of laborers
Verb
  • Thoroughly unimpressed by her suburban idyll, and evidently unmoved by her responsibilities as wife and mother, Denise labors in her basement on a novel whose protagonist wishes to forsake her family for a life in New York.
    — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Every man and woman who labors in the construction industry deserves that.
    — Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026
Definition of labors
Noun
  • That is the standard set for bringing weapons and cellphones into a secure area, safeguarding department property, monitoring the radio, misusing department letterhead, badges or insignia, secondary employment violations, and recommending bondsmen or attorneys to inmates.
    — Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 29 May 2026
  • Plus, bail bondsmen are the ultimate local rent seekers.
    — Dan Gooding Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
Definition of bondmen
Noun
  • Conrad has done an outstanding job of pulling together a team of local workers at all levels of the business.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • During the boom years of the reform era, from 1978 to the early 2000s, China was a country of productive workers.
    — Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of workers
Verb
  • Not only does Jeong-yo have an emotional connection to his music performance that Pi-o struggles to find himself, but Pi-o has injured his pinky in the leadup to the final performance, thanks to his obsessive practicing.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
  • As someone who struggles with the dizzying effects of altitude, I was quickly reminded of Santa Fe’s 7,000-foot elevation.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of struggles
Verb
  • Katie strives to use catering companies that adhere to the teachings of the Make America Healthy Again movement, one regular guest says, which encourages the consumption of raw milk and the avoidance of seed oils.
    — Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Duplan strives to make individual rooms part of his music, regardless of location.
    — William Jones, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of strives
Verb
  • Though Calvin’s children and sister Ruth (Willow Kean), who works as Snook’s Arms Harbor Master, realize there are very few resources left to hold on to, Calvin digs in his heels, determined to find a way forward.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
  • But the setup only works with regular, honest conversations about who pays for what.
    — Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of works

Browse Nearby Words

slavery
slaves
slaves (for)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

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

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All