Meaning of slavery in English

slavery

noun [ U ]

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/ˈsleɪ.vər.i/ uk

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/ˈsleɪ.vər.i/

the activity of legally owning other people who are forced to work for or obey you:

William Wilberforce campaigned for the abolition of slavery.

Those states still had slavery.

the condition of being legally owned by someone else and forced to work for or obey them:

Millions of Africans were sold into slavery.

These kids are victims. This is no better than slavery.

See also

modern slavery

More examples

Beneath the surface of contemporary West Indian life lurk memories of slavery.
His African-American parents had fled from Kentucky to escape slavery.
St. Louis was one of the few Midwestern cities that had slavery.
Shackles are one of the most potent symbols of slavery.
The American Civil War was fought between the North and the South over the issue of slavery.
France abolished slavery on 27 April 1848.
Slavery still exists in many parts of the world.

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(Definition of slavery from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

slavery | Intermediate English

slavery

noun [ U ]

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

/ˈsleɪ·və·ri/

social studies

the condition of being legally owned by someone else, or the system in which some people are owned by others

(Definition of slavery from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of slavery

slavery

During slavery, you were supposed to be the strong one.

From Huffington Post

It may be some sort of slavery, but in poor countries, the children need to have something.

From CNN

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

More examples Fewer examples

Child slavery is ok because it's been "going on for years"?

From CNN

That is considered human trafficking and slavery by most standards.

From CNN

I see slavery also as low unlivable wages.

From CNN

She couldn't believe she had actually taken on the subject of slavery and managed to write a book about it.

From NPR

We discussed the benefits and dangers when creating content based on slavery, and his views on these current theatrical pieces.

From Huffington Post

Couple of years later, that's when your slavery begins.