as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
the Fugitive Slave Act had the effect of returning enslaved people who had made it to freedom in the North to a brutal life of servitude in the South
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Recent Examples of servitude
On the one hand, Lady Penwood has tormented Sophie since her father’s death, denying her parentage, forcing her into servitude, and working her to the bone.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 19 Feb. 2026
Colorado Department of Corrections officials forced inmates to work prison jobs through coercion that ultimately amounted to involuntary servitude, a Denver judge ruled Friday.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2026
Voters overwhelmingly abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in prisons in 2018.
—Austen Erblat, CBS News, 16 Feb. 2026
Her name is Sophie Beckett, the daughter of an earl who was forced into servitude by her cruel stepmother after her father’s death.
—Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for servitude
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 19 Feb. 2026
Colorado Department of Corrections officials forced inmates to work prison jobs through coercion that ultimately amounted to involuntary servitude, a Denver judge ruled Friday.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2026
Voters overwhelmingly abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in prisons in 2018.
—Austen Erblat, CBS News, 16 Feb. 2026
Her name is Sophie Beckett, the daughter of an earl who was forced into servitude by her cruel stepmother after her father’s death.
—Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for servitude
Recent Examples of Synonyms for servitude
slavery
Noun
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So too did the titular Joe Turner, the brother of Tennessee governor Pete Turner and a man responsible for taking prisoners from Memphis to Nashville, but who often sold them into a kind of neo-slavery on cotton plantations along the Mississippi River.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
26 Apr. 2026
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So too did the titular Joe Turner, the brother of Tennessee Governor Pete Turner and a man responsible for taking prisoners from Memphis to Nashville, but who often sold them into a kind of neo-slavery on cotton plantations along the Mississippi River.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Servitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/servitude. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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