as in serfdom
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples 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 peonage
Its darkest depths -- the rise of racial terrorism, convict leasing, debt peonage and more -- are only now being reassessed by millions of Americans whose racial awakening came through the crucible of Floyd's murder and the demonstrations that followed.
—
Peniel E. Joseph, CNN, 6 Oct. 2021
Many drivers stick around for the full year to avoid those fees, enduring what amounts to debt peonage.
—Andrew Kay, WIRED, 17 Jan. 2023
Redemptionists stymied Black progress toward economic independence through sharecropping and a debt peonage system that encumbered Black farmers with overwhelming financial burdens.
—Time, 15 Sep. 2022
For many years, prosecutions based on alleged violations of the 13th Amendment — passed in 1865 to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude — focused on peonage cases, the use of financial debt as a loophole to enslave workers.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2022
See all Example Sentences for peonage 
Peniel E. Joseph, CNN, 6 Oct. 2021
Many drivers stick around for the full year to avoid those fees, enduring what amounts to debt peonage.
—Andrew Kay, WIRED, 17 Jan. 2023
Redemptionists stymied Black progress toward economic independence through sharecropping and a debt peonage system that encumbered Black farmers with overwhelming financial burdens.
—Time, 15 Sep. 2022
For many years, prosecutions based on alleged violations of the 13th Amendment — passed in 1865 to outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude — focused on peonage cases, the use of financial debt as a loophole to enslave workers.
—San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2022
See all Example Sentences for peonage
Recent Examples of Synonyms for peonage
Noun
-
Russian officers still treated their peasant soldiers as little better than serfs (and serfdom would not be abolished in Russia for another 50 years).Antony Beevor, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2022
-
That book, Caliban and the Witch, traces the emergence of witch hunts throughout medieval Western Europe amid the transition from serfdom to proto-capitalism.Hazlitt, Hazlitt, 4 Sep. 2024
Noun
-
And taken alongside the failure of Prop. 6, which would have ended involuntary servitude in prisons, Prop. 36 was taken as a signal that Californians attitudes toward crime are changing.Annika Merrilees, Sacramento Bee, 16 Jan. 2025
-
This is part of a national move to ban involuntary servitude in states whose constitutions still indicate the practice is legal.Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Between 1850 and 1860, it’s estimated that Harriet sheltered hundreds of people fleeing slavery.Olatunji Osho-Williams, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Jan. 2025
-
In Wide Sargasso Sea, Bertha is imagined as a girl originally named Antoinette, raised in Jamaica on a fallow sugar plantation after the abolition of British slavery.Ilana Masad, The Atlantic, 3 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Most people in the free states opposed human bondage, in a general way, but the thin reed of public opinion was no match for the institutional strength of slavery in the South.Matthew Karp, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
-
The divine right of kings, feudalism, human bondage.Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
An actor’s reputation can sometimes feel like a heavy yoke; in Gladiator II, Denzel tosses it off and has a blast, taking the audience with him.Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 22 Nov. 2024
-
Inspired by Western heritage, its design features a distinctive yoke, a vertical chest pocket, and two lower side-entry flap pockets, providing both style and practicality.Chris Dorsey, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near peonage
Cite this Entry
“Peonage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peonage. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share