as in peonage
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Recent Examples of serfdom
Following Mexico's independence in 1821, a small landowning elite replaced the colonial rulers, and most of the farmers (except those who joined farming collectives) transitioned from slavery to serfdom.
—
Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 22 June 2023
The pandemic decreased competition among laborers, raising wages and putting the oppressive system of serfdom in a death spiral.
—Cody Cassidy, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 June 2023
All designed to warn us that behind the veneer of jurisprudential poise and Middle American decency, Amy Coney Barrett is some theocratic medievalist monster, primed to send women back to the kitchen, African-Americans back to the plantations, and the country back to serfdom.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2020
Birmingham sketches out Russia’s mid-century byzantine chaos with a deft hand, up to the point in 1849 when Dostoevsky was sentenced to death for associating with the Petrashevsky Circle, a progressive group that advocated the ending of serfdom and other measures inimical to czarist autocracy.
—Washington Post, 3 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for serfdom 
Travel + Leisure Editors, Travel + Leisure, 22 June 2023
The pandemic decreased competition among laborers, raising wages and putting the oppressive system of serfdom in a death spiral.
—Cody Cassidy, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 June 2023
All designed to warn us that behind the veneer of jurisprudential poise and Middle American decency, Amy Coney Barrett is some theocratic medievalist monster, primed to send women back to the kitchen, African-Americans back to the plantations, and the country back to serfdom.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 19 Oct. 2020
Birmingham sketches out Russia’s mid-century byzantine chaos with a deft hand, up to the point in 1849 when Dostoevsky was sentenced to death for associating with the Petrashevsky Circle, a progressive group that advocated the ending of serfdom and other measures inimical to czarist autocracy.
—Washington Post, 3 Dec. 2021
See all Example Sentences for serfdom
Recent Examples of Synonyms for serfdom
Noun
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The Black community’s relationship with growing food is colored by exploitive practices, from slavery to sharecropping, tenant farming and peonage, or debt servitude.—
Lyndsay C. Green,
Detroit Free Press,
27 Nov. 2024
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Further, this much control over the autonomy of an athlete’s rights to their own NIL rights combined with a financial obligation could also trigger scrutiny under the 13th Amendment, which, in addition to abolishing slavery, placed prohibitions on peonage (i.e., working against your will).—
Joe Sabin,
Forbes,
10 Oct. 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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They were connected and met with historical figures such as Muhammad Ali, Elijah Muhammad or Warith Deen Mohammed, leaders who taught that Islam was the religion that would best address the historical damage slavery had done to Black America.—
Ahmed Ali Akbar,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Feb. 2025
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This interpretation validated slavery and segregation.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
8 Feb. 2025
Noun
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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
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This short-term self-discipline set the stage for long-term success: Hungary was freed from the Soviet yoke, the United States prevailed in the Cold War, and a devastating war was avoided.—
Samuel Charap,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Sep. 2022
Noun
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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
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As a result, many enslaved persons remained in bondage until the state ratified the Thirteenth Amendment in January 1866.—
Harper's Magazine,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near serfdom
Cite this Entry
“Serfdom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/serfdom. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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