slave trade

noun

: trafficking of enslaved people
especially, in U.S. history : the business or practice of capturing, transporting, selling, and buying enslaved African people for profit prior to the American Civil War

Examples of slave trade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The population also included survivors of the African slave trade who were returned to the island and brought with them diseases, including smallpox. Ted Powers, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2025 Perloo is a nod to the Gullah Geechee people, whose tongue carried more African than English words, and to their ancestors before them, who brought the blueprint for this meal from Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone during the transatlantic slave trade. Staff Author, Southern Living, 24 Sep. 2025 King Henry’s laws adamantly forbade chattel slavery, outlawed colonialism, and created an economically robust, financially solvent Black state, one not dependent on the transatlantic slave trade. Marlene L. Daut september 22, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025 Since 2017, Rosales has turned that absence into a bold visual language—one that not only centers West African spirituality but also traces its survival through colonization, enslavement, and the transatlantic slave trade. Yola Robert, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for slave trade

Word History

First Known Use

1701, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of slave trade was in 1701

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Cite this Entry

“Slave trade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave%20trade. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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