slave labor

noun

variants US slave labor or chiefly British slave labour

1

: work that is done by enslaved people or by people who are treated as though they are enslaved

prisoners being forced to do slave labor

a slave labor camp

2

: enslaved people doing work

The pyramids were built by slave labor.

slave laborer noun

(chiefly US) or chiefly British slave labourer

plural slave laborers

… The Statue of Freedom—the figure of a Native American woman warrior that stands on the dome—was cast in bronze by slave laborers in 1863 and hoisted up there.

—Jack E. White

Examples of slave labor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing slavery–except in one instance–further gave Louisiana and other states a legal opening for the continuance of slave labor. —Chadd Scott, Forbes, 19 Sep. 2024

Temu didn’t respond to inquiries about slave labor in its supply chain. —Gabrielle Fonrouge, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2024

Scrutiny of a digital darling Last year, the committee began investigating Shein and Temu for slave labor in their supply chains and zeroed in on their use of the de minimis exemption, claiming in a June 2023 report that both companies didn’t pay any import duties in 2022. —Gabrielle Fonrouge, NBC News, 14 Sep. 2024

In the eighteenth century, Europe sated its sweet tooth with sugar cane produced by slave labor in the Caribbean. —Foreign Affairs, 16 Aug. 2012

Word History

First Known Use

1802, in the meaning defined at sense 1