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
By the early 20th century, after several centuries of rape, disease, enslavement, and land confiscation by colonizers, rubber barons, and loggers, their numbers had been reduced to 300.
—
Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 10 Jan. 2026
National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Xiaolu Guo recasts Ishmael as a 17-year-old girl disguised as a cabin boy and Ahab as a Black freedman named Seneca, haunted by his father’s legacy of enslavement.
—Theara Coleman, TheWeek, 6 Jan. 2026
Her grandfather, George Craig, had made his way there after escaping enslavement with the aid of John Brown, and was working as a barber in the town of Grinnell.
—Scott Simon, NPR, 6 Jan. 2026
One is that for all or most of the people ensnared in the slave trade, their lives were undoubtedly better before capture and their ancestors’ lives were better for generations upon generations prior to enslavement.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
The area was once the site of a community center that was the heart of a historic Black community founded by people freed from enslavement.
—Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Dec. 2025
Murati’s warning about enslavement lingers over every optimistic scenario.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
Fortunately, enslavement to robotic masters in a virtual-reality prison is completely unnecessary for biochemistry to power our machines.
—New Atlas, 14 Nov. 2025
After escaping enslavement, Peter, whose last name is unknown, served as a sergeant in the Black regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War, according to the National Portrait Gallery.
—Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025
Stanley Stewart, Travel + Leisure, 10 Jan. 2026
National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Xiaolu Guo recasts Ishmael as a 17-year-old girl disguised as a cabin boy and Ahab as a Black freedman named Seneca, haunted by his father’s legacy of enslavement.
—Theara Coleman, TheWeek, 6 Jan. 2026
Her grandfather, George Craig, had made his way there after escaping enslavement with the aid of John Brown, and was working as a barber in the town of Grinnell.
—Scott Simon, NPR, 6 Jan. 2026
One is that for all or most of the people ensnared in the slave trade, their lives were undoubtedly better before capture and their ancestors’ lives were better for generations upon generations prior to enslavement.
—Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
The area was once the site of a community center that was the heart of a historic Black community founded by people freed from enslavement.
—Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12 Dec. 2025
Murati’s warning about enslavement lingers over every optimistic scenario.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
Fortunately, enslavement to robotic masters in a virtual-reality prison is completely unnecessary for biochemistry to power our machines.
—New Atlas, 14 Nov. 2025
After escaping enslavement, Peter, whose last name is unknown, served as a sergeant in the Black regiment in the Union Army during the Civil War, according to the National Portrait Gallery.
—Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enslavement
slavery
Noun
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Fulton County Reparations Task Force, a volunteer group in Georgia’s most populous county, recently submitted a 636-page report on the harms the municipality dealt through slavery and discrimination against Black residents.—
AJ Willingham,
AJC.com,
8 Jan. 2026
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When Connecticut receives a report of human trafficking – or modern slavery – multiple agencies collaborate to determine the situation, rescue the victim and provide necessary services like housing, health care and mental health support, and prosecute the offender.—
Kaitlin McCallum,
Hartford Courant,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Enslavement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enslavement. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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