enslave
verb (used with object)
to make a slave of; hold (someone) in slavery or bondage.
had been enslaving
-
past perfect progressiveof enslave.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
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.
Although Muslim traders had been enslaving East Africans and selling them overseas since about the ninth century, the numbers remained small—perhaps about 1,000 a year.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
They turned their surveying instruments on the hamlet as if they had been guns, and laid out their chains as if they had been enslaving the soil itself.
From Mushroom Town by Oliver Onions
