as in serfdom
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Recent Examples of peonage
Its darkest depths -- the rise of racial terrorism, convict leasing, debt peonage and more -- are only now being reassessed by millions of Americans whose racial awakening came through the crucible of Floyd's murder and the demonstrations that followed.
—
Peniel E. Joseph, CNN, 6 Oct. 2021
Many drivers stick around for the full year to avoid those fees, enduring what amounts to debt peonage.
—Andrew Kay, WIRED, 17 Jan. 2023
Redemptionists stymied Black progress toward economic independence through sharecropping and a debt peonage system that encumbered Black farmers with overwhelming financial burdens.
—Time, 15 Sep. 2022
For many years, prosecutions based on alleged violations of the 13th Amendment — passed in 1865 to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude — focused on peonage cases, the use of financial debt as a loophole to enslave workers.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for peonage
Peniel E. Joseph, CNN, 6 Oct. 2021
Many drivers stick around for the full year to avoid those fees, enduring what amounts to debt peonage.
—Andrew Kay, WIRED, 17 Jan. 2023
Redemptionists stymied Black progress toward economic independence through sharecropping and a debt peonage system that encumbered Black farmers with overwhelming financial burdens.
—Time, 15 Sep. 2022
For many years, prosecutions based on alleged violations of the 13th Amendment — passed in 1865 to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude — focused on peonage cases, the use of financial debt as a loophole to enslave workers.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2022
See All Example Sentences for peonage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for peonage
Noun
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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
-
That book, Caliban and the Witch, traces the emergence of witch hunts throughout medieval Western Europe amid the transition from serfdom to proto-capitalism.—
Hazlitt,
Hazlitt,
4 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Advertisement California Nevada just banned ‘slavery and involuntary servitude’ in prisons.—
Anabel Sosa,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Jan. 2025
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The legislation also removes language authorizing slavery and involuntary servitude as possible criminal punishments.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA TODAY,
1 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Then, Trump went on to insult every man woman and child in the United States by making light of the impact of slavery on our nation’s history.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
23 Feb. 2025
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At the end of the day, African American culture goes back to slavery and our ancestors.—
DeMarco Williams,
Forbes,
19 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Passing for White to Escape Slavery Passing for white was an intentional strategy that enslaved people used to free themselves from bondage.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
20 Feb. 2025
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By the late 17th century, rulers had issued further decrees and orders urging officials in Spanish America to liberate Indigenous peoples still in bondage.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA TODAY,
6 Feb. 2025
Noun
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They were clearly designed with the yoke steering wheel of the concept car Cyberster in mind, because with the regular round wheel of the production version, the two side screens are obscured by your hands.—
James Morris,
Fortune Europe,
6 Oct. 2024
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My great-grandmother in Georgia always wore a full-length dressing gown, while one of my Ohio grandmothers liked silky two-piece sets, and the other preferred flannel nightshirts with a rounded yoke that looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie.—
Clint Davis,
Southern Living,
21 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Peonage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peonage. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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