Meaning & use
enslaved
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“enslaved” is a form of “enslave”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Forced to live as the property of another person, with no freedom to leave or refuse work.
Grammar: Often placed before people: enslaved people, enslaved workers.
Patterns
- enslaved people
- an enslaved population
Enslaved workers built much of the early plantation economy.
Museums now teach about the lives of enslaved families.
Thousands of enslaved people escaped through secret routes.
verbtransitive
Made someone a slave, or took away someone's freedom (past tense and past participle of enslave).
Grammar: Takes an object when active: they enslaved the captives; the captives were enslaved.
Patterns
- enslave someone
- be enslaved by something
Invaders enslaved the villagers and forced them to work the fields.
The prisoners were enslaved for decades.
He felt enslaved by his debts.
Word forms
| base form | enslave |
|---|---|
| third person singular | enslaves |
| -ing form | enslaving |
Common combinations
- enslaved people
- Enslaved people were not allowed to own property.
- enslaved workers
- Enslaved workers built the roads.
- enslaved by something
- He was enslaved by his addiction.
- enslaved population
- The enslaved population rose against their rulers.
- freed from slavery
- The enslaved were freed after the war.
Synonyms and how they differ
- subjugated
- Subjugated means brought under control by force, while enslaved means treated as property.
- captive
- Captive describes being held against your will but not necessarily made to work as owned property.
- oppressed
- Oppressed refers to being treated harshly, which can be true without being legally owned.
- bound
- Bound suggests being tied by obligation or debt, which is milder than being enslaved.
Opposites
Word family
- enslave verb
- to make someone a slave
- enslavement noun
- the act of making someone a slave
- slave noun
- a person owned by another
- slavery noun
- the system of owning people
- enslaver noun
- a person who holds others in slavery
Commonly confused: enslaved or indentured?
enslaved vs indentured
Indentured describes bound by a contract for a fixed time, while enslaved describes being owned for life.
Practice
Many historians now prefer the phrase ______ people to the older word slaves.
Choose one answer.
Enslaved is an adjective that goes before a noun. The other forms are a participle, a verb and a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “enslaved”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.