Thrall
noun
A slave, servant or person who is completely controlled by someone or something.
He was in thrall to his drug addiction.
Often appears as...
- in thrall to
- held in thrall
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A state of being completely dominated or controlled by someone or something.
The country was in the thrall of a dictator.
Often appears as...
- place in thrall
- sheer thrall
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A slave, servant or person who is completely controlled by someone or something.
He was in thrall to his drug addiction.
Often appears as...
- in thrall to
- held in thrall
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
noun
A state of being completely dominated or controlled by someone or something.
The country was in the thrall of a dictator.
Often appears as...
- place in thrall
- sheer thrall
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Control and Freedom
Use 'thrall' to express lack of freedom due to control by others or things, like addictions.
He spent years in thrall to gambling.
Pro Tip 2/3Archaic Tone
'Thrall' is old-fashioned; it can give a historical or literary feel to your writing or speech.
The knights were released from their thrall.
Pro Tip 3/3Not for People
Be careful not to use 'thrall' insensitively when referring to actual people who are enslaved.
His mind was in thrall to the haunting melody.
Pro Tip 1/3Control and Freedom
Use 'thrall' to express lack of freedom due to control by others or things, like addictions.
He spent years in thrall to gambling.
Pro Tip 2/3Archaic Tone
'Thrall' is old-fashioned; it can give a historical or literary feel to your writing or speech.
The knights were released from their thrall.
Pro Tip 3/3Not for People
Be careful not to use 'thrall' insensitively when referring to actual people who are enslaved.
His mind was in thrall to the haunting melody.
Pro Tip 1/3Control and Freedom
Use 'thrall' to express lack of freedom due to control by others or things, like addictions.
He spent years in thrall to gambling.
Pro Tip 2/3Archaic Tone
'Thrall' is old-fashioned; it can give a historical or literary feel to your writing or speech.
The knights were released from their thrall.
Pro Tip 3/3Not for People
Be careful not to use 'thrall' insensitively when referring to actual people who are enslaved.
His mind was in thrall to the haunting melody.
Never forget "Thrall"
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Video examples
Why does the universe...
Okay, this is a really ingenious scenario. It's very speculative. It's fascinating. But I've got a big problem with it, and the problem is It's a pseudo-religious point of view. Now, Lawrence thinks he's an atheist, but he's still in thrall to a religious worldview.
Video examples
The Sting of Doom PIPE...
snakes her stinger into the roaches brain and injects toxins that put the roach completely in her thrall the first disabling sting wears off quickly but the roach has lost its will to walk away the wasp finds a nesting burrow she
Video examples
Why does the universe...
Okay, this is a really ingenious scenario. It's very speculative. It's fascinating. But I've got a big problem with it, and the problem is It's a pseudo-religious point of view. Now, Lawrence thinks he's an atheist, but he's still in thrall to a religious worldview.
Video examples
The Sting of Doom PIPE...
snakes her stinger into the roaches brain and injects toxins that put the roach completely in her thrall the first disabling sting wears off quickly but the roach has lost its will to walk away the wasp finds a nesting burrow she
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Claire Fox
British Writer
Are Labour members inherently bigoted against women, unable to objectively assess political attributes beyond the gender prism? This accusation seems particularly ludicrous when levelled at a party so much in thrall to identity politics that it sometimes feels more like a student union than an organisation set up to defend the working class.
Quote examples
Megan Phelps-Roper
American Activist
When people are in the thrall of poisonous ideology, it's really not all about deliberate ill will, or inherent hatred, or a lack of intelligence. It's about the unbelievable destructiveness and staying power of bad ideas and about finding ways to equip people with the tools they need to fight them.
Quote examples
Deborah Moggach
English Writer
I found Hollywood pretty bruising and uncreative. The executives are all in thrall to the boss, and spend their times double-guessing him or her, and trying to remember what he/she said and then applying them to the script, whether it was useful or not. They're all in fear for their jobs.
Quote examples
Tom Junod
American Journalist
We live in a time of short attention spans and long stories. The short attention spans are seen as inevitable, the consequence of living our lives in thrall to flickering streams of information. The long stories are the surprise, as is the persistence of the audience for them.
Quote examples
Mariella Frostrup
British Journalist
It's a universal truth that no parent wishes to acknowledge that the fear and phobias we are in thrall to in adulthood almost invariably connect back to childhood experiences.
Quote examples
Donald G. Mitchell
American Writer
Youth is in a grand flush, like the hot days of ending summer; and pleasant dreams thrall your spirit, like the smoky atmosphere that bathes the landscape of an August day.
Quote examples
Todd Gitlin
American Sociologist
Collectively, we are in thrall to media - because they deliver to us many of the psychic goods we crave, and we know no other way to live.
Quote examples
Steve Hanke
American Economist
Mercantilism was an insidious economic theory that held Europe in its thrall in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Quote examples
Robert Lepage
Canadian Playwright
Opera needs a major makeover; the large opera houses are too in thrall to their conservative patrons.
Quote examples
Jack Levine
American Artist
It was a movement that had all the art critics, all the museum directors in its thrall.
Quote examples
Claire Fox
British Writer
Are Labour members inherently bigoted against women, unable to objectively assess political attributes beyond the gender prism? This accusation seems particularly ludicrous when levelled at a party so much in thrall to identity politics that it sometimes feels more like a student union than an organisation set up to defend the working class.
Quote examples
Megan Phelps-Roper
American Activist
When people are in the thrall of poisonous ideology, it's really not all about deliberate ill will, or inherent hatred, or a lack of intelligence. It's about the unbelievable destructiveness and staying power of bad ideas and about finding ways to equip people with the tools they need to fight them.
Quote examples
Deborah Moggach
English Writer
I found Hollywood pretty bruising and uncreative. The executives are all in thrall to the boss, and spend their times double-guessing him or her, and trying to remember what he/she said and then applying them to the script, whether it was useful or not. They're all in fear for their jobs.
Quote examples
Tom Junod
American Journalist
We live in a time of short attention spans and long stories. The short attention spans are seen as inevitable, the consequence of living our lives in thrall to flickering streams of information. The long stories are the surprise, as is the persistence of the audience for them.
Quote examples
Mariella Frostrup
British Journalist
It's a universal truth that no parent wishes to acknowledge that the fear and phobias we are in thrall to in adulthood almost invariably connect back to childhood experiences.
Quote examples
Donald G. Mitchell
American Writer
Youth is in a grand flush, like the hot days of ending summer; and pleasant dreams thrall your spirit, like the smoky atmosphere that bathes the landscape of an August day.
Quote examples
Todd Gitlin
American Sociologist
Collectively, we are in thrall to media - because they deliver to us many of the psychic goods we crave, and we know no other way to live.
Quote examples
Steve Hanke
American Economist
Mercantilism was an insidious economic theory that held Europe in its thrall in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Quote examples
Robert Lepage
Canadian Playwright
Opera needs a major makeover; the large opera houses are too in thrall to their conservative patrons.
Quote examples
Jack Levine
American Artist
It was a movement that had all the art critics, all the museum directors in its thrall.
Example 1 of 10
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