as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
having known the misery of enslavement first hand, Frederick Douglass went on devote his life to the cause of making others free
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Recent Examples of enslavement
There was out-and-out enslavement, of Native Americans and Africans; there were onerous tribute demands and a labor corvée called the repartimiento.
—
Greg Grandin
september 23, Literary Hub, 23 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
As for the enslavement of my African ancestors, who literally built the economic infrastructure of America with forced, free labor, from 1619 to 1865—246 years—this section of the American journey was reduced to mere paragraphs.
—Gordon G. Chang, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
From the days of enslavement, there are stories of Black women forming a safety net of people around them to help protect themselves, their friends, and their children.
—Sarah Rex, JSTOR Daily, 20 Aug. 2025
Part of the enslavement process was the erasure of language, culture, family and religion.
—Damenica Ellis, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2025
Greg Grandin
september 23, Literary Hub, 23 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
As for the enslavement of my African ancestors, who literally built the economic infrastructure of America with forced, free labor, from 1619 to 1865—246 years—this section of the American journey was reduced to mere paragraphs.
—Gordon G. Chang, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
From the days of enslavement, there are stories of Black women forming a safety net of people around them to help protect themselves, their friends, and their children.
—Sarah Rex, JSTOR Daily, 20 Aug. 2025
Part of the enslavement process was the erasure of language, culture, family and religion.
—Damenica Ellis, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enslavement
slavery
Noun
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Coven is one of the tighter narratives the series has mustered, with its true horror lying in the realities of slavery in the American South.—
James Mercadante,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Oct. 2025
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While the issues roiling America today may be more nuanced than slavery, there are still stark contrasts—forces of democracy and authoritarianism that can pretty fairly be described as right and wrong.—
Miguel Sirgado,
Miami Herald,
30 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Enslavement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enslavement. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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