noun
- serfs or peasants bound to the land they work on
Usage: historical
Examples
- The adscripts were not allowed to leave the estate without permission.
- Medieval adscripts worked the lord’s land in exchange for protection.
- The feudal system relied heavily on adscripts for agricultural labor.
- Unlike slaves, adscripts could not be sold separately from the land.
- The abolition of serfdom freed millions of adscripts across Europe.
- Adscripts had certain rights that distinguished them from chattel slaves.