slaveholder
noun
slave·hold·er
ˈslāv-ˌhōl-dər
variants
or less commonly slave holder
plural slaveholders also slave holders
: someone who holds one or more people involuntarily and under threat of violence within a system of chattel slavery
In the teaching of American history, perhaps the most difficult lesson to convey is that slavery once held the entire country in its grip. It was not just the business of enslaved black people, slaveholders, or the South.—Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields
Each slaveholder's inventoried listing of the number of human beings claimed as owned … was associated with their specific census data, and has, in this age of trillions of pages of digitized historic records, become a lamp shining light on the painful lost family history of many Black Americans.—J. W. Sayles
… Mintus Solomon was born into slavery before having gained his freedom when his slave holder passed away.—Amyah Bishop
called also slave owner
Cite this Entry
“Slaveholder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slaveholder. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.
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