enslave
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of enslave
Explanation
To enslave someone is to force that person to work for no pay, to obey commands, and to lose his or her freedom. The ancient Greeks were known to enslave groups of people they defeated in military battles. It's less common today for one group of people to enslave another, but unfortunately it does still happen. You might also encounter enslave being used in a figurative way, to describe something that takes over a person's freedom to make choices in some way: "Being hooked on cigarettes just enslaves her — she tries to quit, but she can't." Enslave comes from the "make into" prefix, en-, and slave, "person who is the property of another."
Vocabulary lists containing enslave
Lost Boy, Lost Girl
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Across So Many Seas
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We are innately biased against outsiders,” writes David Livingstone Smith in his book “Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others.”
From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2023
No science will ever give them bread so long as they remain free, so long as they refuse to lay that freedom at our feet, and say: "Enslave, but feed us!"
From The Grand Inquisitor by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor
Ah! let not thankless man the blessing given Enslave to Fame, or sacrifice to Pride.
From The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes by Gilfillan, George
Nor let reserve, as I have often done, Enslave the sweetest feelings of the soul!
From Poems by Betham, Matilda
Which, by some strange and magic bands, Enslave the soul, and tie the hands.
From Poetical Works by Churchill, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
