slave labor

American  

noun

1. persons, especially a large group, performing labor under duress or threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp; a labor force of slaves or slavelike prisoners.

2. labor done by such a labor force.

3. any coerced or poorly remunerated work.

   Data entry at that salary is slave labor.

---

Other Word Forms

• slave-labor adjective

Etymology

Origin of slave labor

First recorded in 1810–20

Example Sentences

With the 1793 invention of the cotton gin—which separated cotton fibers from its seeds with a previously undreamed-of efficiency—America’s plantation economy expanded exponentially and so did its use of slave labor.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even more heartbreaking is who constructs the road itself: “The captured animals are now being forced to work slave labor,” said Winnie Holzman, who wrote the screenplay with Dana Fox.

From Los Angeles Times

“We are also aware that our church was built in part by slave labor. So it became a passion to recognize all who came together ‘as a village’ to build Pohick Church, including and especially those who had no choice — the enslaved persons.”

From Washington Post

“This system of unfree labor — slave labor — by constitutional law is something that I think anybody with a conscience would find reprehensible,” said Dennis Childs, an associate professor of African American literature at UC San Diego and author of the book “Slaves of the State: Black Incarceration from the Chain Gang to the Penitentiary.”

From Los Angeles Times

For example, the famous steeple was financed in part by the sale of logwood, the harvesting of which was dependent on slave labor, she said.

From Seattle Times