bondage
Americannoun
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slavery or involuntary servitude; serfdom.
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the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control.
- Synonyms:
- imprisonment, confinement, captivity, thralldom
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the state or practice of being physically restrained, as by being tied up, chained, or put in handcuffs, for sexual gratification.
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Early English Law. personal subjection to the control of a superior; villeinage.
noun
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slavery or serfdom; servitude
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Also called: villeinage. (in medieval Europe) the condition and status of unfree peasants who provided labour and other services for their lord in return for holdings of land
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a sexual practice in which one partner is physically bound
Related Words
See slavery.
Etymology
Origin of bondage
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-Latin bondagium. See bond 2, -age
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.
The history of slavery under Islam involved multiple forms of bondage that stretched across continents and generations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025
“Have they read the harrowing history of their ancestors’ bondage in Egypt to no purpose?” one writer in a Jewish periodical asked of pro-slavery Jews.
From Slate • Apr. 10, 2025
Chris Farrimond, NCA Director of Threat Leadership, warned migrants who enter the UK "under these clandestine means" are "under increased risk of being forced into exploitation and debt bondage" by groups of people smugglers.
From BBC • Apr. 27, 2024
CAL also found evidence of debt bondage, a form of forced labor that involves “recruitment fees,” often paid with a loan, with workers essentially indentured until their debts are settled.
From Salon • Apr. 2, 2024
But the enslaved people at Mount Vernon and Monticello were still in bondage, along with the thousands of others who would be forced back into enslavement.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
