enslave
verb /ɪnˈsleɪv/
/ɪnˈsleɪv/
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they enslave | /ɪnˈsleɪv/ /ɪnˈsleɪv/ |
| he / she / it enslaves | /ɪnˈsleɪvz/ /ɪnˈsleɪvz/ |
| past simple enslaved | /ɪnˈsleɪvd/ /ɪnˈsleɪvd/ |
| past participle enslaved | /ɪnˈsleɪvd/ /ɪnˈsleɪvd/ |
| -ing form enslaving | /ɪnˈsleɪvɪŋ/ /ɪnˈsleɪvɪŋ/ |
- enslave somebody to make somebody a slave
- (formal) to make somebody/something completely depend on something so that they cannot manage without it
- be enslaved (to something) Our civilization remains enslaved to materialism.
Word Originearly 17th cent. (in the sense ‘make (a person) subject to a superstition, passion, etc.’; formerly also as inslave): from en-, in- (as an intensifier) + slave.