servitude
gb/sˈɚvɪtˌud/ us/sˈɚvɪtˌud/
C1
English
~ 8900
Senses
0 senses
Noun
formal
C1
state
1
condition of slavery or forced labor
A state where a person must work for another person and is not free to leave, like slavery.
Usage pattern:
to live in servitude to [someone]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse "servitude" with "service." "Service" can be neutral or positive (for example, customer service or military service), while "servitude" almost always suggests a lack of freedom and very unfair conditions, close to slavery.
Synonyms
slavery (More common and direct; focuses on legal ownership of people, while "servitude" is broader and more formal.)
Antonyms
freedom (Highlights the absence of control and forced work that defines servitude.)
Collocations
live in servitude
|forced into servitude
|a life of servitude
|sold into servitude
|held in servitude
|kept in servitude
Themes
law
|society
|human-rights
|work
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- For generations, the community lived in servitude under the rule of a distant empire.
- Victims were trafficked across borders and kept in servitude on remote farms.
- She was born into servitude and had no legal way to escape her masters.
- International law now recognizes debt bondage as a form of modern servitude.
- The film follows a family's struggle to break free from domestic servitude.
Learner examples
- Many people were kept in servitude and could not leave.
- The girls were sold into servitude when they were very young.
- He lived in servitude to a rich family and worked every day.
- They finally escaped servitude and started a new life.
- Laws now try to protect people from servitude.
Noun
literary
C1
state
2
being dominated by something nonhuman
A state where you feel you cannot act freely because a habit, desire, fear, or power controls your life.
Usage pattern:
in servitude to [something]
Common mistake:
Learners may use this figurative sense where a neutral word like "duty" or "responsibility" is better. "Servitude" suggests a strong, unhealthy loss of freedom, not just having normal tasks or obligations.
Synonyms
subjugation (More formal and often political; "servitude" in this sense can be personal or internal, not only political.)
Antonyms
autonomy (Stresses self-rule and self-control, which are missing in this kind of servitude.)
Collocations
in servitude to habit
|in servitude to fear
|economic servitude
|political servitude
|mental servitude
|servitude to fashion
Themes
psychology
|society
|philosophy
|health
|emotions
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- He refused to live in servitude to his fears and finally sought help.
- Many workers feel trapped in economic servitude, unable to refuse unsafe jobs.
- The writer describes modern life as a kind of servitude to constant screens and notifications.
- She broke her servitude to perfectionism and began to accept mistakes as part of learning.
- The book argues that addiction is a form of quiet servitude to a substance.
Learner examples
- He does not want to live in servitude to money.
- Many people live in servitude to their phones today.
- She felt in servitude to her bad habits.
- The singer said he was in servitude to alcohol for many years.
- They want to end their servitude to fear and start to speak freely.
Noun
technical
C2
relation
3
legal right to use another's land
In law, a special rule on a piece of land that lets another person or land use it in a limited way, for example to walk or drive through it.
Usage pattern:
a servitude over [a property]
Common mistake:
Learners may assume "servitude" here still refers to people working like slaves. In legal contexts about land, it usually means a property right similar to an "easement," not forced labor.
Synonyms
easement (In many legal systems this is the more common term; "servitude" is more used in some civil-law traditions or formal writing.)
Antonyms
unencumbered ownership (Describes property that is free from any such legal burdens or rights of use by others.)
Collocations
right of servitude
|predial servitude
|personal servitude
|servitude over the land
|servitude of passage
|grant a servitude
Themes
law
|real-estate
|housing
Examples
- The contract creates a servitude of passage over the northern boundary of the land.
- Under local law, a servitude allowing access to the main road was implied by necessity.
- The title shows that the property is subject to a drainage servitude in favor of the neighboring lot.
- They agreed to register a utility servitude so that power lines could cross the farm.
- The court held that the servitude had prescribed because it was not used for many years.
Learner examples
- The land has a servitude so the neighbor can cross it.
- They created a servitude for a small road on the farm.
- The house is cheaper because there is a servitude on the land.
- A servitude lets another person use the land in a limited way.
- The lawyer explained that a servitude must be written in the contract.
Noun
archaic
C2
event
4
imprisonment with compulsory hard labor
An old legal punishment where a person had to stay in prison and do very hard work.
Usage pattern:
sentenced to [number] years' servitude
Common mistake:
Learners may think this is a current, general word for any prison sentence. In modern English it mainly appears in historical or legal texts and refers to an older kind of punishment with hard labor.
Synonyms
hard labor (More general and still understood; "servitude" in this sense is an older, more formal legal term.)
Antonyms
release (Indicates the end of the punishment and the return to freedom, opposite to being kept in penal servitude.)
Collocations
penal servitude
|sentenced to servitude
|years of servitude
|term of servitude
|servitude with hard labor
|condemned to servitude
Themes
law
|history
|work
Examples
- In the nineteenth century he was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude for theft.
- The judge declared that penal servitude was appropriate given the seriousness of the crime.
- Many prisoners died during their years of servitude in harsh colonial conditions.
- Under later reforms, penal servitude was replaced by modern forms of imprisonment.
- The novel follows a convict during his servitude on a remote island prison.
Learner examples
- Long ago, some criminals were given penal servitude.
- He was sentenced to five years' servitude in a prison camp.
- Penal servitude was a very hard kind of punishment.
- Today, most countries no longer use penal servitude.
- The book tells the story of a man's servitude after a crime.
Grammar
Dictionary form
servitude
IPA
GB/sˈɚvɪtˌud/
US/sˈɚvɪtˌud/
Syllables & stress
ser - vitude (2 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (ser)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: servitude
- Plural: servitude
Word family
Related words
Negative and opposite forms
disservice
noun
unserviceable
adjective
Advanced or less common
servile
adjective
servility
noun
subservient
adjective
subservience
noun
Expressions
a life of servitude
1/ə lˈaɪf əv sˈɚvɪtˌud/
fixed phrase
formal
spending one's whole life in servitude
To spend almost all of your life working for others with little or no freedom.
Examples
- She feared that marrying him would mean a life of servitude in his family's house.
- For many child laborers, school is a distant dream after a life of servitude in factories.
- The memoir describes his escape from a life of servitude on a remote estate.
in servitude to
1/ˈɪn sˈɚvɪtˌud tə/
fixed phrase
formal
being controlled or dominated by
To be under the control of a person, system, or thing so that you do not feel free.
Examples
- He refused to live in servitude to corrupt officials any longer.
- Many feel trapped in servitude to debt from their student loans.
- The author argues that we are in servitude to our own desires.
penal servitude
1/pˈinəl sˈɚvɪtˌud/
fixed phrase
archaic
old punishment of hard-labor imprisonment
An old type of prison punishment where a person had to do very hard physical work.
Examples
- He was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude for armed robbery.
- Penal servitude was abolished and replaced with modern prison sentences in the early twentieth century.
sold into servitude
1/sˈoʊld ˈɪntu sˈɚvɪtˌud/
fixed phrase
formal
being sold to become a forced worker
To be sold to someone so that you must work for them and cannot leave, like a slave.
Examples
- The documentary follows children who were sold into servitude by desperate families.
- Many people were kidnapped and sold into servitude on distant plantations.
- She was sold into servitude at the age of ten and separated from her parents.