enslaver
noun
en·slav·er
in-ˈslā-vər 
en-
plural enslavers
1
: someone or something that forces one or more people into or as if into slavery
The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes …—
Frederick Douglass
Frederick DouglassThe opera's libretto depicts Columbus as hungry for gold and an enslaver of the Tainos …—Bill Kaufman
Bill Kaufman… writings and textbooks and pamphlets—some 100 years old—calling tobacco foul, poisonous, an enslaver of the mind and soul.—Matthew Ebner
Matthew Ebner2
: slaveholder
Six years after she was enslaved on Spanish Point, Prince's enslaver sold her again to another slaveholder …—Christopher Michael Blakley
Christopher Michael Blakley… the Fugitive Slave Act was a source of contention for communities in the North that were torn about whether to comply with returning former slaves to their enslavers.—Bethany Bump
Bethany BumpExamples of enslaver in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
These houses are tiny and were constructed in a way in which they could be easily taken apart and loaded onto carts, should the residents be forced out by their former enslavers.
—Farah Nibbs, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024
In January 1864, Smalls returned to his hometown and used the money he’d been awarded for turning over the Planter to buy his enslaver’s mansion.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
Many other freedmen on the South Carolina Sea Islands refused to work for their former enslavers.
—Essence, 18 June 2024
The trains, audible in the background, run on rails that enslaved people built—only for enslavers to use those very tracks to ship Black people off like cargo, tearing families apart.
—Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2024
Promising freedom to Black men and women only after a period of time also permitted enslavers to sneak in stipulations that led to further delays.
—Carolyn Eastman, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Sep. 2024
Many of them were enslavers, although some were the first in the world to legally abolish African slavery.
—Gordon S. Wood, Washington Post, 2 July 2024
Howard suggested that the freedmen could work for the planters, urging them to lay aside bitter feelings and reconcile with their former enslavers.
—Essence, 18 June 2024
By the following decade, copper exports to West Africa amounted to 20 tons annually, shipped by the Royal African Company as well as by private enslavers.
—Corinne Fowler / Made By History, TIME, 17 June 2024
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Farah Nibbs, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024
In January 1864, Smalls returned to his hometown and used the money he’d been awarded for turning over the Planter to buy his enslaver’s mansion.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2024
Many other freedmen on the South Carolina Sea Islands refused to work for their former enslavers.
—Essence, 18 June 2024
The trains, audible in the background, run on rails that enslaved people built—only for enslavers to use those very tracks to ship Black people off like cargo, tearing families apart.
—Emily Watlington, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2024
Promising freedom to Black men and women only after a period of time also permitted enslavers to sneak in stipulations that led to further delays.
—Carolyn Eastman, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Sep. 2024
Many of them were enslavers, although some were the first in the world to legally abolish African slavery.
—Gordon S. Wood, Washington Post, 2 July 2024
Howard suggested that the freedmen could work for the planters, urging them to lay aside bitter feelings and reconcile with their former enslavers.
—Essence, 18 June 2024
By the following decade, copper exports to West Africa amounted to 20 tons annually, shipped by the Royal African Company as well as by private enslavers.
—Corinne Fowler / Made By History, TIME, 17 June 2024
Dictionary Entries Near enslaver
Cite this Entry
“Enslaver.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enslaver. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.
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