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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

thrall.

Slave; one under the control of another.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/θɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/θɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/θɹɔl//θɹɑl/cot-caught-merger

  1. Slave; one under the control of another.

    countable · literary · uncountable
    My father was always a thrall to alcohol.

  2. The state of being under the control of another person.

    uncountable
    Today's kids are in thrall to their phones.

  3. A shelf; a stand for barrels, etc.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English thral, thralle, threl, threlle, from Old English þrǣl (“thrall, slave, servant”), from Old Norse þræll (“slave”), from Proto-Germanic *þrahilaz, *þragilaz, *þrigilaz (“runner, gofer, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to pull, drag, race, run”), possibly a variant of *dʰregʰ- (“to run”); related to Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þragjan), Old English þrǣġan (“to run”).

adj/θɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/θɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/θɹɔl//θɹɑl/cot-caught-merger

  1. Enthralled; captive.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English thral, thralle, threl, threlle, from Old English þrǣl (“thrall, slave, servant”), from Old Norse þræll (“slave”), from Proto-Germanic *þrahilaz, *þragilaz, *þrigilaz (“runner, gofer, servant”), from Proto-Indo-European *tregʰ- (“to pull, drag, race, run”), possibly a variant of *dʰregʰ- (“to run”); related to Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þragjan), Old English þrǣġan (“to run”).

verb/θɹɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/θɹoːl/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/θɹɔl//θɹɑl/cot-caught-merger

  1. To make a thrall; enslave.

    literary
Where this word comes from

From Middle English thrallen, from the noun above. Compare Old Norse þræla.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.