enslave

[en-sleyv]

verb (used with object)

enslaved, enslaving 

1. to make a slave of; hold (someone) in slavery or bondage.

   Spartacus was enslaved by the Romans, fought as a gladiator, and later led an insurrection in 73 B.C.

   Synonyms: dominate, control, shackle, enchain
   Antonyms: release, liberate, free

enslave

/ ɪnˈsleɪv /

verb

1. (tr) to make a slave of; reduce to slavery; subjugate

Other Word Forms

• enslavement noun
• enslaver noun
• reenslave verb (used with object)
• reenslavement noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of enslave¹

First recorded in 1635–45; en- ¹ + slave

Example Sentences

One revived the crusades of the 11th and 12th centuries and allowed players to enslave Muslims.

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Southern banks had issued currency backed by enslaved people as collateral, creating a volatile financial system that collapsed when cotton prices fell and land speculation schemes failed.

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Full emancipation for enslaved people in the British Empire, excluding some exceptions like the East India Company, was granted by the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.

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Lucumí is an Afro-Caribbean religion with roots in Yoruba cosmology, formed and sustained by enslaved Africans in Cuba as an act of resistance and remembrance.

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California passed a fugitive slave law — rare among free states — in 1852 that allowed slaveholders to use violence to capture enslaved people who had fled to the Golden State.

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Related Words

• coerce 
• deprive 
• disenfranchise 
• imprison 
• incarcerate 
• oppress 
• shackle 
• subjugate 
• suppress