slave
slave — noun
1. Someone who is legally the property of another person and must work without the
Someone who is legally the property of another person and must work without the right to freedom or payment.
Haruto's great-grandfather was captured in West Africa and sold as a slave in the Americas.
passive: sold as a slave + destination
Laws that treated slaves as property were finally abolished in Brazil in 1888.
collocation: treated as property / abolished
The museum exhibit showed the rough clothes that slaves wore in the cotton fields.
Amira read a book about a slave who escaped from a plantation at night.
- bondservant
Older, more formal term; often appears in historical or biblical texts
- chattel
Strictly legal term emphasising the person as property; dehumanising in tone
- serf
Historical term for a person tied to land in feudal systems, not individually owned
- freeperson
Someone with full legal rights and personal liberty
- master
The person who owns or controls a slave
用法筆記
Now used mainly in historical contexts to describe past systems of legal enslavement, particularly the transatlantic slave trade.
2. A person whose choices and daily life are completely ruled by a habit, desire, d
A person whose choices and daily life are completely ruled by a habit, desire, duty, or demand, leaving them little freedom to choose otherwise.
Sivan is a slave to fashion and spends most of her salary on clothes.
collocation: a slave to [influence]
Nikos felt like a slave to his job, answering emails even on holiday.
Heather became a slave to her exercise routine and could not skip a single day.
Cyrus is tired of being a slave to his phone, checking it every few minutes.
- master
Someone in control of their own choices and habits
- independent person
Someone who makes free decisions without outside control
文法句型
a slave to + noun phrase
用法筆記
Almost always followed by the preposition 'to' introducing the dominating influence ('a slave to fashion,' 'a slave to routine').
常見錯誤
slave — verb
1. To work for long, hard hours, especially on a task that feels demanding or tirin
To work for long, hard hours, especially on a task that feels demanding or tiring.
Marta slaved over her history essay until three o'clock in the morning.
slaved + over [task]
Pedro has been slaving away in the kitchen all afternoon to finish the meal.
phrasal pattern: slaving away + in [place]
Arjun slaved at the factory for twelve hours a day with only one short break.
Putri slaved over the hot stove, stirring the pot of soup for hours.
The whole team slaved away on the project every evening to meet the deadline.
- drudge
Suggests dull, boring work over long periods; less common in everyday speech
- toil
More formal and literary; emphasises physical effort and struggle
- grind
Very informal; suggests monotonous work, common in American English ('grinding away')
- labour
More neutral and formal; can be both intransitive and transitive
文法句型
slave + away
slave + over + noun phrase
slave + at + noun phrase
用法筆記
Almost always paired with 'away,' 'over,' 'at,' or 'on' to indicate the task or location. Using 'slave' alone without a particle sounds dated or unnatural in modern English.