slave
Americannoun
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a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor.
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a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person.
She was a slave to her own ambition.
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a drudge.
a housekeeping slave.
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a slave ant.
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Photography. a subsidiary flash lamp actuated through its photoelectric cell when the principal flash lamp is discharged.
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Machinery, Computers. a device or process under control of or repeating the actions of a similar device or process.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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Machinery, Computers. to connect (a device) to a master as its slave.
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Archaic. to enslave.
noun
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a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property
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a person who is forced to work for another against his will
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a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence
a slave to television
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a person who works in harsh conditions for low pay
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a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device)
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( as modifier )
slave cylinder
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verb
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to work like a slave
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(tr) an archaic word for enslave
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has slavedperfect 3rd person singular
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have slavedperfect
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is slavingprogressive 3rd person singular
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slavessingular 3rd person
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am slavingprogressive 1st person singular
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slavingparticiple
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has been slavingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been slavingperfect progressive
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are slavingprogressive
Past
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had slavedperfect
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was slavingprogressive singular
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slavedsimple
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were slavingprogressive plural
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had been slavingperfect progressive
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slavedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of slave
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English sclave (also slave ), from Old French escla(i)ve, and Medieval Latin sclāvus (masculine), sclāva (feminine) “slave,” special use of Sclāvus “Slavic, a Slav, slave” (Latin does not tolerate the consonant cluster sl- and employs the cluster scl- instead); so called because Slavs in Central Europe and the Balkans were commonly enslaved in the early Middle Ages; see origin at Slav
Explanation
Someone who is forcibly held in servitude is called a slave. The practice of owning slaves is immoral and detestable. Throughout history there have been slaves, and in some parts of the world some people still force others into slavery. Often the word is used more loosely. You might buy a lot of clothes because you're a slave to the latest fashion trends. You could spend all day in the kitchen, preparing 12 casseroles, working like a slave. That kind of exaggeration is common, but don't kid yourself: nothing is really similar to — or as horrible as — being a slave.
Vocabulary lists containing slave
"Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad"
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Workshop 4, Part 1
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Ancient Greece, Lessons 4–8
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the mural “Troubled Island,” Noni Olabisi chronicles the Haitian struggle for independence, including how suffering under French colonists led to the 1791 slave rebellion.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Those successfully returned home by Equatorial Guinea include "a former child slave turned anti-slavery advocate" who is now living in hiding, according to the lawyers' statement.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
The Moneyist: I was a slave to credit-card debt, then I got laid off and turned my life around.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 5, 2026
The pope in “Magnifica Humanitas” also asks for “pardon”—from whom it’s unclear—for the church’s complicity in the slave trade and other forms of exploitation.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
For the total slave population was now approaching 700,000, up from about 500,000 in the year of the Declaration of Independence.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
