enslavement
Americannoun
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the act of taking or holding someone as a slave.
Until his death, Bartolomé de las Casas worked to prevent the enslavement of the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean.
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the state or condition of being held in slavery.
During their enslavement, African Americans were prevented from learning to read or write.
Etymology
Origin of enslavement
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.
Accidents and misfortunes, especially being captured in wartime, could lead to enslavement.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
At the Legacy Museum, visitors experience 400 years of American history that includes enslavement, racial terrorism, and mass incarceration.
From Salon • Apr. 18, 2025
This Passover, as for thousands of years, Jews gathered around seder tables will recall the story of our ancestors’ enslavement in Egypt.
From Slate • Apr. 10, 2025
Some residents live in fear, not of enslavement but of their own visions; others wind up traveling to the future and return with sad truths.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2024
The history of the United States had been offered to me as consisting of the accomplishments of white people, mostly men, and the enslavement of black people.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
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.
