How to Use antebellum in a Sentence

antebellum

adjective
  • It should be said that antebellum colleges did not march in lockstep on all these matters.
    — Andrew Delbanco, The New York Review of Books, 8 June 2022
  • A lot of old antebellum architecture, a lot of places to eat and shop and things to see and do.
    — AFAR Media, 15 May 2026
  • The antebellum mansions and brick townhouses add a sense of charm that can't be beat.
    — Kara Thompson, Good Housekeeping, 18 Aug. 2022
  • What was once the largest antebellum mansion still standing in the South had caught on fire.
    — Jameelah Nasheed, Essence, 29 May 2025
  • Shakespeare’s tragedies, which were all the rage on both sides of the Atlantic in the antebellum era.
    — Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2021
  • One is a slim, white woman, in antebellum underskirt and corset.
    — Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, 11 Feb. 2020
  • He had been placed into a trust, a common practice in the antebellum South.
    — Ann Banks, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Aug. 2020
  • Until that inevitable day comes to pass, these two bachelors from the antebellum past may be the next closest thing.
    — Thomas Balcerski, Smithsonian, 28 Aug. 2019
  • An Empire-style antebellum home was later built on the property and was used as a girls’ high school at one point.
    — Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 10 July 2024
  • The biggest racial fear of the antebellum white North was a black migration northward.
    — WSJ, 1 June 2018
  • She was obliged, as an enslaved woman in the antebellum South, to labor in his household for him, his wife and his children.
    — Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2025
  • James conjures a vision of the antebellum South as a scene of pervasive terror.
    — Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2024
  • In the antebellum South, biscuits were seen as a special treat for Sunday dinner.
    — Jen Rose Smith, CNN, 4 May 2022
  • At her big age, Rachael absolutely knew that an antebellum era themed-party that had been banned by the school and had to be held off campus was a bad idea.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 23 Feb. 2021
  • At first glance, an antebellum vice-president and supporter of slavery has few lessons for the EU.
    — The Economist, 17 Apr. 2021
  • Tresvant made his way to the grounds of the antebellum Statehouse, a relic still marked by cannon fire from Sherman’s army.
    — Marilyn W. Thompson, ProPublica, 5 May 2023
  • The name, with connotations of the antebellum South and the shadow of slavery, had been a flashpoint of debate for years.
    — Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 Dec. 2021
  • Since the day of the explosion, neighbors surrounding the area, which is part of the town’s antebellum historic district, have been angry.
    — Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 12 May 2025
  • The costumes by Holly Pierson are a triumph, and include a cheap rental top hat and flimsy antebellum hoop skirts.
    — Christian Lewis, Variety, 12 July 2024
  • Jarret is the child of Harry Lewis, a horse trainer who was able to buy his own freedom in antebellum Kentucky.
    — Maggie Shipstead, Washington Post, 17 June 2022
  • Each spring, the city hosts the Eufaula Pilgrimage, an antebellum festival when many of these private homes open for tours.
    — al, 16 Jan. 2022
  • In the period only later dubbed the antebellum era, white Southerners weren’t aching to leave the Union.
    — Richard Kreitner, The New Republic, 30 June 2020
  • Since its inception in 1934, the Masters has dripped in the antebellum codes of the South.
    — Kurt Streeter, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2021
  • It is dotted with Civil War sites and antebellum homes that pay homage to its rich history as part of the Old South.
    — Chelsea Sheasley, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Jan. 2022
  • Black men had access to education and voting rights that were scarce in the East and unthinkable in the antebellum South.
    — Mark Athitakis, Washington Post, 7 Dec. 2022
  • When starting to learn Arabic, few students of the language would expect the journey to lead them back to slavery in the antebellum South.
    — Heather Wilhelm, National Review, 10 Aug. 2023
  • In the United States, the unholy compromises with the Southern slave states in the antebellum era is a case in point.
    — Jennifer Szalai, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025
  • Few following the apocalyptic headlines at the time would have been familiar with the firm’s origins as a dry-goods store in the antebellum South.
    — Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2022
  • These concessions cast a long shadow over antebellum politics thereafter.
    — Time, 17 Nov. 2025
  • While some Black Americans had access to the ballot in the antebellum period, most, who were enslaved, did not.
    — Time, 12 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antebellum.' 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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