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serfdom

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.06 sec.
serf  (sûrf)
n.
1. A member of the lowest feudal class, attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights.
2. An agricultural laborer under various similar systems, especially in 18th- and 19th-century Russia and eastern Europe.
3. A person in bondage or servitude.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin servus, slave.]
serfdom n.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.serfdom - the state of a serf
serfhood, vassalage
slavery, thraldom, thrall, thralldom, bondage - the state of being under the control of another person


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The gentleman with the gray whiskers was obviously an inveterate adherent of serfdom and a devoted agriculturist, who had lived all his life in the country.
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
It is with us a Law of Nature that the brain of the Isosceles class shall begin at half a degree, or thirty minutes, and shall increase(if it increases at all) by half a degree in every generation; until the goal of 60 degrees is reached, when the condition of serfdom is quitted, and the freeman enters the class of Regulars.
Flatland by Abbott, Edwin View in context
If her position with regard to her father was not the absolute condition of serfdom into which her mother had been ground down, she was at least afraid of him, and she remembered the strict commands he had laid upon them all.
A Millionaire of Yesterday by Oppenheim, E. Phillips View in context
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