UNFREEDOM Synonyms: 27 Similar and Opposite Words

unfreedom

noun

Definition of unfreedom

as in subjection

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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 unfreedom Even Ursula Le Guin’s Anarres, which is haunted by the shadow of unfreedom. — Carline Tromp, The Dial, 18 Aug. 2026 These ideas—of ceding ground, of viewing another as infinite rather than as a means to address our own unfreedom—are of no use to the industries and technologies that treat the face as a display commodity before all else. — Jia Tolentino, New Yorker, 11 July 2026 But the reality is that car dependence entrenches debt, ill health, and vulnerability—forms of unfreedom smuggled in under the name of freedom. — Henrietta Moore, Fortune, 16 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unfreedom

Noun

The Handmaid's Tale spared no sensitivities when diving into the cruelest treatment people like June, and even Lydia, experience at the hands of a totalitarian system bent on the total subjection of women.

— Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
As the man brawls with his in-laws, the boy is caught between two worlds, of male rage and female subjection.

— Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026

Definition of subjection

Noun

Neither candidate has a strategy for combatting Brazil’s growing dependence on China for trade, a key issue in the presidential race.

— Ashley Gold, semafor.com, 2 Oct. 2026
The ruler who turns to AI to reduce a dependence on unreliable humans may end up relying, more blindly than before, on the few AI specialists who keep the system running.

— Seva Gunitsky, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of dependence

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unfree

unfreedom

unfreedoms

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

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Synonyms of unfreedom

noun

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