- 1a person who is owned by another person and is forced to work for them She treated her daughter like a slave. slave owners Wordfinderfreedomallow, emancipation, freedom, imprisonment, independence, liberty, oppress, restriction, rule, slave Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveescaped, fugitive, runaway, … verb + slavebecome, have, keep, … slave + nounlabour/labor, labourer/laborer, master, … prepositionslave of, slave to See full entry
- 2a person who is so strongly influenced by something that they cannot live without it, or cannot make their own decisions slave of something We are slaves of the motor car. slave to something Sue's a slave to fashion. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveescaped, fugitive, runaway, … verb + slavebecome, have, keep, … slave + nounlabour/labor, labourer/laborer, master, … prepositionslave of, slave to See full entry
- 3(specialist) a device that is directly controlled by another one Word OriginMiddle English: shortening of Old French esclave, equivalent of medieval Latin sclava (feminine) ‘Slavonic (captive)’: the Slavonic peoples had been reduced to a servile state by conquest in the 9th cent.
Check pronunciation: slave
