as in slavery
the state of being an enslaved person
having known the misery of enslavement first hand, Frederick Douglass went on devote his life to the cause of making others free
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Recent Examples of enslavement
Along with Jim Crow laws that criminalized Blackness, the loophole allowed for the legal re-enslavement of Black Americans to financially benefit the state.
—
Julia Bowling, The Conversation, 29 May 2026
There are acid critiques of settler colonialism alongside tributes to the majesty of the American landscape, sober revisitations of enslavement alongside hopeful pleas for liberation, bitter denouncements of intervention in wars abroad alongside quaint homages to homespun Americanness.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 28 May 2026
Grey’s government soon won passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which ended enslavement in most of the British empire.
—Danielle Allen, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
The agents were astonished by how obvious Djena’s enslavement seemed to have been, and by the number of people who had failed to act.
—Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, New Yorker, 18 May 2026
History that begins with enslavement.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Bertha runs a Pittsburgh boardinghouse with her husband, Seth, played by Cedric the Entertainer, in 1911 and is part of an ensemble of Black characters a generation removed from enslavement.
—Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 13 May 2026
This seems a time to remind ourselves that the country’s historic success, wealth, and power came at a very high price—the enslavement of millions of human beings for 12 generations over the course of 246 years to build a modern nation.
—Time, 12 May 2026
One character, a troubled traveling man named Herald Loomis (Joshua Boone), bears the scars of post-slavery enslavement after being abducted into seven years of hard labor under Joe Turner.
—Rodney Ho, AJC.com, 6 May 2026
Julia Bowling, The Conversation, 29 May 2026
There are acid critiques of settler colonialism alongside tributes to the majesty of the American landscape, sober revisitations of enslavement alongside hopeful pleas for liberation, bitter denouncements of intervention in wars abroad alongside quaint homages to homespun Americanness.
—Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 28 May 2026
Grey’s government soon won passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which ended enslavement in most of the British empire.
—Danielle Allen, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
The agents were astonished by how obvious Djena’s enslavement seemed to have been, and by the number of people who had failed to act.
—Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, New Yorker, 18 May 2026
History that begins with enslavement.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026
Bertha runs a Pittsburgh boardinghouse with her husband, Seth, played by Cedric the Entertainer, in 1911 and is part of an ensemble of Black characters a generation removed from enslavement.
—Zak Cheney-Rice, Vulture, 13 May 2026
This seems a time to remind ourselves that the country’s historic success, wealth, and power came at a very high price—the enslavement of millions of human beings for 12 generations over the course of 246 years to build a modern nation.
—Time, 12 May 2026
One character, a troubled traveling man named Herald Loomis (Joshua Boone), bears the scars of post-slavery enslavement after being abducted into seven years of hard labor under Joe Turner.
—Rodney Ho, AJC.com, 6 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for enslavement
slavery
Noun
-
When the South seceded from the United States in order to maintain slavery as a legal practice, Clemens left behind Hannibal and the steamships.—
Trevor Hughes,
USA Today,
31 May 2026
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Those marching orders left opponents and free speech advocates in disbelief, wondering how park employees were supposed to put a sunny spin on monuments acknowledging slavery, Jim Crow laws and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.—
Jack Dolan,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Enslavement.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/enslavement. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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