peonage

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Rather, the poorer and more vulnerable you are, the more you are exploited, thrust into a hellish debt peonage from which there is no escape.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2022

The peonage system lasted across the South for seven decades until World War II, yet many Americans have never heard of it.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 23, 2021

During the next two centuries, New England Indians also suffered indentured servitude, convict labor, and debt peonage, which often resulted in the enslavement of the debtor’s children.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 18, 2019

Alabama yeomen had returned from the Civil War to face a sea change in agriculture, with those formerly independent farmers joining former slaves in peonage to the large landholders.

From New York Times • Sep. 30, 2017

All of which was as nothing compared to the labour squabbles and endless petty entanglements which arose from personal jealousy or political vindictiveness, peppered with dark hints of peonage, threats, demands, and whispers of graft.

From The Firing Line by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)