slave trade

noun

: trafficking of enslaved people
especially, in U.S. history : the business or practice of capturing, transporting, selling, and buying enslaved African people for profit prior to the American Civil War

Examples of slave trade in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
During this period of the Atlantic slave trade, nearly 300,000 enslaved persons were transported in slave ships from African ports to mainland North America and more than 3.4 million disembarked in the British and French West Indies. Ana Lucia Araujo / Made By History, TIME, 4 Nov. 2024 The descendants of Haitians were deported during the slave trade from the gulf of Benin. Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2024 Successive British governments have resisted calls to formally apologize for the slave trade, or to entertain the prospect of reparations. Rob Picheta, CNN, 24 Oct. 2024 The last two articles, important in the consideration of economic freedom as an essential aspect of human freedom, stress private property, and commit Great Britain to help abolish the slave trade. Alejandro Antonio Chafuen, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for slave trade 

Word History

First Known Use

1701, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of slave trade was in 1701

Dictionary Entries Near slave trade

Cite this Entry

“Slave trade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slave%20trade. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on slave trade

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!