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History vocabulary · Social History

Indentured servitude

Meaning in history, with examples

nounCommon term

In history, indentured servitude means: A labour arrangement binding a person to an employer for a specified term under a contract.

In Turkish: sözleşmeli bağlı hizmetçilik

How it is used

Historical contracts could be coercive and restrictive; a fixed term did not ensure free working conditions.

Example sentences

  1. The passage contract bound the migrant to years of indentured servitude.

    Travel costs could be exchanged for a period of bound labour.

  2. Court records show disputes over the end of indentured servitude.

    The duration and enforcement of the contract matter historically.

Common collocations

  • a term of indentured servitude
  • indentured servant
  • slaveryA system in which people are legally owned by others, forced to work without pay and denied basic freedoms, or the condition of being enslaved.
  • migrationThe movement of people from one place to another to live, either within a country or across borders, alone or in large groups.

More terms: Social History

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