slave state

noun

1
: a state of the U.S. in which slavery was legal until the Civil War
2
: a nation subjected to totalitarian rule

Examples of slave state in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Seven Southern states had already seceded with the fate of Kentucky, a slave state, still unknown. Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2025 The action was taken under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which was during the pre-Civil War era and allowed Missouri to become a slave state and Maine as a free state, Helmke said. Alexandra Kukulka, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025 The two-per-state rule was also believed to be necessary to get the smaller states to sign on to the finished product—though Madison did not see this rule as a benefit to the slave states, which is how it is sometimes interpreted. Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024 Women in slave states had legal rights to property that was half of the wealth in the southern United States at the time. Trevon Logan, The Conversation, 10 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for slave state 

Word History

First Known Use

1809, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of slave state was in 1809

Dictionary Entries Near slave state

Cite this Entry

“Slave state.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave%20state. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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