slaves 1 of 2

noun

plural of slave
1
as in servants
a person who is considered the property of another person many American slaves reached freedom in the North through the network known as the Underground Railroad

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in laborers
a person who does very hard or dull work unappreciated office slaves who perform the necessary but tedious task of filing paperwork

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

slaves

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of slave
as in labors
to devote serious and sustained effort slaving over a hot stove

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of slaves
Noun
Bamboo slips from Shuihudi count the work of young slaves as units of production, and slips held by the Yuelu Academy describe apprenticeships in state workshops. — News Desk, Artforum, 21 Oct. 2026 Also a list of the true names and addresses of all former slaves, along with their actual occupations and 1858 yearly incomes, which, surprising no one, were right on par with the incomes of similar whites. — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026 The idea of animals as slaves of their instincts or mindless automatons evaporates. — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026 In the 1800s, slaves stood on the southern bank and looked across to freedom. — Hannah Agran, Midwest Living, 12 Sep. 2026 Well, our opponent was on the side that wanted to keep using slaves. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 Sep. 2026 Except, maybe, for Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, or FDR, who started many social benefit programs. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 8 Sep. 2026 Its citizens held slaves, some of whom were shackled for committing adultery. — Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2026 New York Life Insurance Company, Aetna Life Insurance Company and American International Group, known as AIG, were some of the businesses that listed previously disclosed ties to slaves and slaveholders. — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Verb
Things are equally akilter in his family’s home, with his mother now sitting on the couch watching TV while his father slaves away in the kitchen. — Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slaves
  1. servants
  2. laborers
  3. labors
  4. bondmen
  5. workers
  6. struggles
  7. strives
  8. works
Noun
  • Banks paid millions of dollars by today’s standards to bring along a botanist, artists, servants, his greyhound and scientific equipment.
    — Saar Shahar, The Conversation, 12 Oct. 2026
  • The remains of these servants, or retainers, were first excavated from the funerary complexes at Abydos, eastern Egypt, which date from around 3000 BC, in the 1920s.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of servants
Noun
  • Her philanthropic activities extended far beyond her own community to include Indigenous inmates, Chinese immigrants, and white laborers, along with countless other Angelenos.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
  • In the previous decades, Japan had brought in many Korean, Chinese, and Taiwanese laborers, often under duress, to work in factories and mines, usually in atrocious conditions.
    — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of laborers
Verb
  • Thoroughly unimpressed by her suburban idyll, and evidently unmoved by her responsibilities as wife and mother, Denise labors in her basement on a novel whose protagonist wishes to forsake her family for a life in New York.
    — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Every man and woman who labors in the construction industry deserves that.
    — Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 5 Mar. 2026
Definition of labors
Noun
  • That is the standard set for bringing weapons and cellphones into a secure area, safeguarding department property, monitoring the radio, misusing department letterhead, badges or insignia, secondary employment violations, and recommending bondsmen or attorneys to inmates.
    — Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 29 May 2026
  • Plus, bail bondsmen are the ultimate local rent seekers.
    — Dan Gooding Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
Definition of bondmen
Noun
  • But the movement has widened to include workers demanding relief from rising living costs, making the government’s task broader than resolving a dispute over university admissions.
    — Thomas Adamson, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
  • Also according to the emergency service, consecutive Russian strikes on a shopping center in Kharkiv injured four people late on Saturday, including three rescue workers.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of workers
Verb
  • Sometimes, though, a team simply struggles to find its footing.
    — David Troy OutKick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026
  • This mostly lifeless car struggles every few seconds to get its engine going.
    — Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of struggles
Verb
  • In so doing, the tradition could achieve for ASL what the word of the year strives to achieve for English.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Said soup is being attended to by at least four cooks, as Hal (with helpful coaching by an off-camera Kate) strives to explain himself to Grace back at the embassy, and then the two of them work to get Eidra on-side.
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of strives
Verb
  • In Bellorado-Samuels’s own bedroom, the television is stashed under the bed and works by Barkley Hendricks, Sadie Barnett, and Charisse Pearlina Weston take pride of place.
    — Sean Santiago, Architectural Digest, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery works by offloading shader compilation for different hardware combinations to the cloud.
    — Tom Warren, The Verge, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of works

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Cite this Entry

“Slaves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slaves. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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