servitude
noun
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Servitude is slavery or anything resembling it. The entire black population of colonial America lived in permanent servitude. And millions of the whites who populated this country arrived in "indentured servitude", obliged to pay off the cost of their journey with several years of labor. Servitude comes in many forms, of course: in the bad old days of the British navy, it was said that the difference between going to sea and going to jail was that you were less likely to drown in jail.
Synonyms
Examples of servitude in a Sentence
Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 1 Jan. 2025
And taken alongside the failure of Prop. 6, which would have ended involuntary servitude in prisons, Prop. 36 was taken as a signal that Californians attitudes toward crime are changing.
—Annika Merrilees, Sacramento Bee, 16 Jan. 2025
This is part of a national move to ban involuntary servitude in states whose constitutions still indicate the practice is legal.
—Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2024
Unlike the definition of indenture servitude, in which someone works for a single employer without pay, visa holders may change employers and are paid.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 28 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near servitude
Cite this Entry
“Servitude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/servitude. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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servitude
noun
Legal Definition
servitude
noun
Note: A predial servitude is transferred along with the ownership of the dominant estate, and the servient estate is always taken subject to the servitude. A predial servitude cannot be transferred separately from the dominant estate.
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