enslavement

Etymology

It is formed from English enslave + -ment.^[1][2] Enslave, recorded from 1605, is itself formed from en- and slave;^[1] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to 1628 and Etymonline to the 1640s.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of enslaving a person or group; subjugation: 1647, in a pamphlet of reasons why the House of Commons ought to suspend certain members.^[1] The 1989 edition of the OED had dated the word to 1692,^[4] and Etymonline gives the 1690s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense "the state of being enslaved" followed in 1648.^[1] Like the verb, the noun was used both of literal slavery and of other kinds of subjection,^[1] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "the state of servitude; slavery; abject subjection", quoting South's sermons on the Israelites' "fresh enslavement to their enemies".^[5]

Timeline

• 1647 – the action of enslaving; subjugation.^[1]
• 1648 – the state of being enslaved.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of enslaving people: the enslavement of captives taken in war.^[3][1]
2. The state of being enslaved; bondage or servitude, also figuratively, subjection to a habit or passion.^[3][1][6]

Related words

• slave
• slavery

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org