Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Allowing or practicing the ownership of slaves: Describing a society, region, or person that permits or engages in the institution of slavery.
   • Characterized by the existence of slavery: Pertaining to a place or period where the system of slave ownership is legal and prevalent.

2. Noun:

   • The practice or institution of owning slaves: The act, custom, or system of holding human beings as property, compelling them to labor without personal freedom or rights.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The slaveholding states resisted abolitionist movements.
  • He was born into a slaveholding family in the antebellum era.

• Noun:

  • The economy was built upon slaveholding.
  • The moral arguments against slaveholding grew stronger in the 19th century.

Advanced Usage

• As a historical descriptor: The term is often used in historical and sociological contexts to analyze economies, legal systems, and social structures.
  • The study focused on the political power of the slaveholding class.

Variants and Related Words

• Slaveholder (noun): An owner of slaves.
  • The plantation was managed by a wealthy slaveholder.
• Slaveholding (as a compound noun): Can function as a noun phrase on its own, as defined above.
• Slave-owning (adjective/noun): A near-synonymous compound term.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Pro-slavery, slave-owning.
• Noun: Slave ownership, bondage, enslavement.

Related Phrases and Concepts

• "The slaveholding South": A common historical phrase referring to the southern United States prior to the Civil War, where the economy and society were based on slaveholding.
  • The conflict between the industrial North and the slaveholding South was a primary cause of the war.
• "Slaveholding society": Describes a civilization or community whose structure depends on slavery.
  • Ancient Rome was a slaveholding society.

Adjective

1. allowing slavery
   • the slaveholding South

Noun

1. the practice of owning slaves