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

• enslaver noun
• enslavement 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

Established in 1862 as Freedmen’s Hospital, Howard was the first federally funded hospital intended to provide care for formerly enslaved Black people during the Civil War.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Charles Darwin is a household name, but how many people know that the world’s most famous naturalist learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a formerly enslaved Black Briton who owned a bird-stuffing shop in Edinburgh, Scotland?

Read more on Los Angeles Times

That job fell to the servants — enslaved people, in Jefferson’s case.

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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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Related Words

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