exploitation

noun

ex·​ploi·​ta·​tion ˌek-ˌsplȯi-ˈtā-shən 

: an act or instance of exploiting

exploitation of natural resources

exploitation of immigrant laborers

clever exploitation of the system

Examples of exploitation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Chinese exploitation of voter data claims Trump argued that the intelligence community suppressed information about China allegedly accessing 220 million voter files and trying to turn American opinion against him in the run-up to the 2020 election. — Justin Fishel, ABC News, 17 July 2026

Across the industry, the window between a vulnerability going public and its first exploitation has collapsed from months to days, and for the most serious flaws, to hours. — Chris Brown, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026

However, the Clay County prosecuting attorney warned this behavior goes far beyond large events and contributes to more exploitation, including human trafficking. — Alexa Newsom, Kansas City Star, 16 July 2026

An attacker needs no complicated exploitation primitives—only a copy of an old, still-trusted, but unrevoked shim binary and a basic understanding of how UEFI shims work. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 14 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, from exploiter "to exploit entry 2" + -ation -ation

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for exploitation

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation