Etymologically
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exploitation

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French exploitation (“working of natural resources”),[2][3][4] from exploiter,[3][4][5] from Old French esploitier (“to achieve, perform”),[4] ultimately from Latin explicitum, the neuter past participle of explicō (“to unfold”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The extraction or harvesting of natural resources: 1795, in a translation by ‘Colonel Frederick’;[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1803.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

At first it was a positive word for productive working, although regarded as a Gallicism.[3] French itself had used it for taking unfair advantage from 1829–32,[2] and English took on that sense in the 1830s to 1850s, partly from French socialist writing such as that of Saint-Simon and perhaps from American anti-slavery writing;[3] the OED's first English example is from 1832.[2] Making full use of something is from 1831.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary also records the sense of an advertising or publicity campaign.[6]

Timeline

  • 1795 – working of natural resources.[2]
  • 1831 – making full use of something.[2]
  • 1832 – unfair use for one's own ends.[2]
  • 1871 – military reconnaissance (obsolete by 1899).[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The unfair use of someone or something for one's own advantage, especially of workers.
  2. The use or development of a resource for profit.
  3. An advertising or publicity campaign.

Word family

  • exploitational
  • exploitationally
  • blaxploitation
  • exploitative
  • nonexploitation
  • overexploitation
  • sexploitation

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt