How to Use Uncle Tom in a Sentence

Uncle Tom

noun
  • Being called an Uncle Tom was a betrayal.
    — Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Uncle Tom figured his Commander had suffered enough indignity and tried to end the meeting.
    — Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Anyone found with a copy of the explosive novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was subject to arrest.
    — Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
  • In John Brown’s case, as with the iconic figure of Uncle Tom, self-sacrifice was the way to God’s throne.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Uncle Tom was a Chelsea supporter, so there was something pleasing about a West Ham player being the hero of the day.
    — The Athletic Uk Staff, New York Times, 18 June 2026
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe mentioned such a doll in her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
    — Susan Degrane, Chicago Tribune, 28 Feb. 2026
  • Both events had lasting effects on Stowe, who began working on Uncle Tom’s Cabin shortly afterward.
    — Tara Ramanathan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2026
  • In the latter half of the 19th century, Uncle Tom’s popularity was rivaled only by the Bible.
    — Tara Ramanathan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2026
  • When Stowe eventually published Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a novel, the response was overwhelming—especially among abolitionists, who championed the book as evidence of slavery’s evil.
    — Tara Ramanathan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2026
  • In some accounts of American history, the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin decisively turned public opinion against slavery, accomplishing what pamphlets and political rhetoric could not.
    — Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2025
  • While Uncle Tom’s Cabin played an important role in shaping antislavery sentiment ahead of the Civil War—which eventually led to a formal, if unevenly realized, end to chattel slavery—the novel has since faced significant criticism.
    — Tara Ramanathan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Mar. 2026
  • Stowe is known mainly for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel profoundly informed by her Christian nationalist belief that the United States was failing in its mission to become a New Canaan, precisely because of the blasphemous practice of slavery.
    — Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Whitman’s poetry and prose; Melville’s early romances of the sea, Typee, Omoo, and Mardi; three novels by Harriet Beecher Stowe, including Uncle Tom’s Cabin; and the complete tales and sketches of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Uncle Tom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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