Meaning & use
serfdom
The condition of being a serf, a peasant legally bound to work land owned by a lord.
See it in a sentence
Serfdom bound peasants to the estate, forbidding them from leaving without their lord's permission.
Historians study how serfdom gradually declined across Western Europe after the fourteenth century.
A note on using this word
Serfdom differs from slavery in that serfs could not be bought or sold apart from the land they worked.
Words with a similar meaning
bondageservitude
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “serfdom”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.