as in serfdom
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Example Sentences
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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
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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
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Advertisement California Nevada just banned ‘slavery and involuntary servitude’ in prisons.—
Anabel Sosa,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Jan. 2025
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The legislation also removes language authorizing slavery and involuntary servitude as possible criminal punishments.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA TODAY,
1 Jan. 2025
Noun
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They were connected and met with historical figures such as Muhammad Ali, Elijah Muhammad or Warith Deen Mohammed, leaders who taught that Islam was the religion that would best address the historical damage slavery had done to Black America.—
Ahmed Ali Akbar,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Feb. 2025
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This interpretation validated slavery and segregation.—
Ed Gaskin,
Boston Herald,
8 Feb. 2025
Noun
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By the late 17th century, rulers had issued further decrees and orders urging officials in Spanish America to liberate Indigenous peoples still in bondage.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA TODAY,
6 Feb. 2025
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As a result, many enslaved persons remained in bondage until the state ratified the Thirteenth Amendment in January 1866.—
Harper's Magazine,
Harper's Magazine,
2 Jan. 2025
Noun
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My great-grandmother in Georgia always wore a full-length dressing gown, while one of my Ohio grandmothers liked silky two-piece sets, and the other preferred flannel nightshirts with a rounded yoke that looked like something out of Little House on the Prairie.—
Clint Davis,
Southern Living,
21 Dec. 2024
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This short-term self-discipline set the stage for long-term success: Hungary was freed from the Soviet yoke, the United States prevailed in the Cold War, and a devastating war was avoided.—
Samuel Charap,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Sep. 2022
Thesaurus Entries Near peonage
Cite this Entry
“Peonage.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/peonage. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.
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