Synonyms for slaves
- captive
- laborer
- serf
- servant
- victim
- worker
- chattel
- drudge
- help
- menial
- peon
- retainer
- skivvy
- thrall
- toiler
- vassal
- workhorse
- bondservant
- subservient
Antonyms for slaves
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR SLAVES
"Some slaves have been publicly registered as adopted children," said Eudora.
But the Lacedæmonians make it a rule never to speak of danger from their slaves.
There was a Spartan law forbidding masters to emancipate their slaves.
What was to become of the slaves on this plantation now that the master was dead?
Because it is against the "law" for slaves to learn to read and write.
The boards we used in the building had to be sawed by us two slaves with a whipsaw.
He in turn gives way to the hilarious buffoonery of the two slaves.
From children and animals it extended to slaves and criminals.
He adopted the gentle, almost tender tone that made most women his slaves.
Then, there were the slaves, contributing their dark shade to the picture of society.
WORD ORIGIN
late 13c., "person who is the chattel or property of another," from Old French esclave (13c.), from Medieval Latin Sclavus "slave" (source also of Italian schiavo, French esclave, Spanish esclavo), originally "Slav" (see Slav); so used in this secondary sense because of the many Slavs sold into slavery by conquering peoples.
Meaning "one who has lost the power of resistance to some habit or vice" is from 1550s. Applied to devices from 1904, especially those which are controlled by others (cf. slave jib in sailing, similarly of locomotives, flash bulbs, amplifiers). Slave-driver is attested from 1807; extended sense of "cruel or exacting task-master" is by 1854. Slate state in U.S. history is from 1812. Slave-trade is attested from 1734.
Old English Wealh "Briton" also began to be used in the sense of "serf, slave" c.850; and Sanskrit dasa-, which can mean "slave," apparently is connected to dasyu- "pre-Aryan inhabitant of India." More common Old English words for slave were þeow (related to þeowian "to serve") and þræl (see thrall). The Slavic words for "slave" (Russian rab, Serbo-Croatian rob, Old Church Slavonic rabu) are from Old Slavic *orbu, from the PIE root *orbh- (also source of orphan), the ground sense of which seems to be "thing that changes allegiance" (in the case of the slave, from himself to his master). The Slavic word is also the source of robot.