SLAVES Synonyms: 134 Similar and Opposite Words

slaves 1 of 2

noun

plural of slave

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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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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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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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

The idea of animals as slaves of their instincts or mindless automatons evaporates. — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 29 Sep. 2026 Like horses, people held as slaves were generally treated by property law as things, not persons. — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 21 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 The Christiana Riot, also known as the Christiana Resistance, occurred in Christiana, Pennsylvania, where free Black people and escaped slaves successfully resisted a federal marshal’s raid to capture four fugitive slaves. — USA Today, 25 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

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

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
Meanwhile, $12 million will go to a fund supporting out-of-work entertainment industry laborers.

— Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 2 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

Conflict-of-interest rules may bar some workers and their families from holding certain stocks; the Treasury has moved to ban ESG funds from accounts, but there’s no way for people to keep certain stocks out of their kids’ accounts.

— Diane Brady, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
His father, Amin Mia, 26, said no health workers came to their remote village in Sylhet to offer vaccinations in time.

— Reuters, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of workers

Verb

As energy supply struggles to keep pace with demand, those delays have drawn political attention and, finally, action, including significant legislation passed at the state level and a new bipartisan permitting reform bill proposed in the Senate.

— Dr. Sarah Kapnick, semafor.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.

— Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of struggles

Verb

Yet, this tense adventure makes a strong case that bad parents can still teach good lessons, even when a kid strives to live in opposition to their folks.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
Katie strives to use catering companies that adhere to the teachings of the Make America Healthy Again movement, one regular guest says, which encourages the consumption of raw milk and the avoidance of seed oils.

— Aidan McLaughlin, Vanity Fair, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of strives

Verb

The measure works largely by imposing deadlines on state agencies and courts to issue decisions quickly.

— Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2026
Russia's Federal Security Service said the man, who works for the Hokkaido Shimbun newspaper, was suspected of gathering information about Russia's defense capability on behalf of a Japanese intelligence agency.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of works

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“Slaves.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slaves. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of slaves

noun

verb

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