slaveholder
noun
slave·hold·er
ˈslāv-ˌhōl-dər 
variants
or less commonly slave holder
plural slaveholders also slave holders
: someone who holds one or more people involuntarily and under threat of violence within a system of chattel slavery
In the teaching of American history, perhaps the most difficult lesson to convey is that slavery once held the entire country in its grip. It was not just the business of enslaved black people, slaveholders, or the South.—
Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields
Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. FieldsEach slaveholder's inventoried listing of the number of human beings claimed as owned … was associated with their specific census data, and has, in this age of trillions of pages of digitized historic records, become a lamp shining light on the painful lost family history of many Black Americans.—J. W. Sayles
J. W. SaylesBy allowing Southern states to count their slaves … for purposes of representation, while denying those slaves all other civil or human rights, the Constitution granted slave holders magnified political power, while creating an incentive to acquire more slaves.—Peter Sagal
Peter Sagalcalled also slave owner
Examples of slaveholder in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These agents of the slaveholders’ republic considered the African American residents of Maryland and Pennsylvania fugitives from slavery, fair game for capture and enslavement.
—Robert Colby, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2025
Johnson’s generosity to former slaveholders extended even to the coastal region covered by Sherman’s Special Field Order.
—Scott Spillman, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
Their accounts offer some insight into the mindset of modern slaveholders.
—Monti Datta, The Conversation, 9 Jan. 2025
The new champion went on to declare that his name was no longer Clay; black-American surnames were often inherited from the family names of white slaveholders.
—Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025
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Robert Colby, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2025
Johnson’s generosity to former slaveholders extended even to the coastal region covered by Sherman’s Special Field Order.
—Scott Spillman, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2025
Their accounts offer some insight into the mindset of modern slaveholders.
—Monti Datta, The Conversation, 9 Jan. 2025
The new champion went on to declare that his name was no longer Clay; black-American surnames were often inherited from the family names of white slaveholders.
—Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for slaveholder
Dictionary Entries Near slaveholder
Cite this Entry
“Slaveholder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slaveholder. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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slaveholder
noun
slave·hold·er
ˈslāv-ˌhōl-dər
: someone who holds one or more people in forced servitude
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