unfreedom

noun

Definition of unfreedomnext
as in subjection

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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 unfreedom And those norms can change quickly, with much of society managing to adapt to a prolonged state of unfreedom. — Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2025 But the reality is that car dependence entrenches debt, ill health, and vulnerability—forms of unfreedom smuggled in under the name of freedom. — Henrietta Moore, Fortune, 16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unfreedom
  1. subjection
  2. heteronomy
  3. dependence
Noun
  • The Handmaid's Tale spared no sensitivities when diving into the cruelest treatment people like June, and even Lydia, experience at the hands of a totalitarian system bent on the total subjection of women.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
  • As the man brawls with his in-laws, the boy is caught between two worlds, of male rage and female subjection.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026
Definition of subjection
Noun
  • For this reason, the passage from Arab spring to Arab winter should be understood first and foremost as a narrative of self-determination, choice, and consequences, not as a story of heteronomy and external imposition.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 12 May 2020
Definition of heteronomy
Noun
  • Its language about seeking opportunity rather than security, taking calculated risks, building, falling, succeeding, and refusing to trade dignity for dependence captured, almost perfectly, how my father thought about America.
    — Phil Kafarakis, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
  • The Eola celebration was capped by a reenactment of the signing of the Declaration of In dependence.
    — Orlando Sentinel Staff, The Orlando Sentinel, 4 July 2026
Definition of dependence

Browse Nearby Words

unfree
unfreedom
unfreedoms
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Cite this Entry

“Unfreedom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unfreedom. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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