Meaning & use
serfdom
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Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
The medieval system in which peasants were tied to a landowner's estate and had to work it in exchange for protection and a place to live.
Grammar: No article for the general system: serfdom ended slowly.
Patterns
- abolish serfdom
- emerge from serfdom
Serfdom ended in much of western Europe by the sixteenth century.
Under serfdom, a peasant could not leave the estate without permission.
The czar abolished serfdom in 1861.
noununcountablefigurative
The condition of being a serf, or a state of heavy and unfair dependence on others.
Grammar: Used about a person's status or, figuratively, about hard dependence.
Patterns
- live in serfdom
- be bound to serfdom
Many families lived in serfdom for generations.
Critics described the workers' debts as a form of modern serfdom.
He believed that endless borrowing was a sort of serfdom.
Common combinations
- abolish serfdom
- Several rulers moved to abolish serfdom in the eighteenth century.
- end of serfdom
- The end of serfdom changed rural life.
- feudal serfdom
- Feudal serfdom depended on land and loyalty.
- escape serfdom
- Some peasants escaped serfdom by fleeing to towns.
- modern serfdom
- Some writers describe low-paid, debt-ridden work as modern serfdom.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bondage
- Bondage is a general word for being held in servitude, and serfdom names a specific medieval arrangement tied to land.
- servitude
- Servitude means a state of being forced to serve and is broader than serfdom, which was linked to farm estates.
- vassalage
- Vassalage was a bond between a noble and a lord, whereas serfdom applied to peasants who worked land.
- slavery
- Slavery meant being owned and sold as property, but serfs were tied to the land and had some rights, so serfdom is not the same.
Opposites
Word family
- serf noun
- a peasant tied to a lord's land
- feudalism noun
- the medieval social system in which serfdom existed
- serflike adjective
- resembling a serf in dependence
- emancipation noun
- the freeing of serfs or slaves
Commonly confused: serfdom or slavery?
serfdom vs slavery
Serfdom tied peasants to the land and gave some rights, while slavery treated people as property that could be bought and sold on their own.
Practice
The reform in 1861 ended ____ in Russia and freed millions of peasants from their lords.
Choose one answer.
Serfdom was the system binding peasants to estates. The other words are real nouns but have nothing to do with a peasant's legal status.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “serfdom”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.