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
Since the end of enslavement, keeping up appearances had been of particular political import for Black women.
—
Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 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
Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 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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The 1850 version mandated that the federal government actively help slave catchers track and apprehend people who’d escaped slavery.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Sep. 2025
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It’s gotten so bad that, in one of the largest H-2A criminal cases ever, a federal judge described the abuse of these workers as a form of modern-day slavery.—
Max Blau,
ProPublica,
16 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Enslavement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enslavement. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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