How to Use abolitionism in a Sentence

abolitionism

noun
  • Surely, abolitionism had a moral force greater than the sum of its flawed parts.
    — Marc M. Arkin, WSJ, 6 Feb. 2022
  • The free speech skeptics might want to read up on the history of abolitionism.
    — Russell Jacoby, Harper’s Magazine , 16 Feb. 2023
  • This led them toward both women’s rights and the risky work of anti-slavery and abolitionism.
    — Marjoleine Kars, Washington Post, 6 Nov. 2020
  • The district was a hot spot of abolitionism and the fledgling women-rights movement.
    — Melanie Kirkpatrick, WSJ, 9 Apr. 2021
  • Nevertheless, Key took this as his chance to make an example of abolitionism once and for all.
    — Bennett Parten, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2021
  • An emphasis on hard evidence took firm hold in the wave of abolitionism in the 1830s.
    — Gerry Lanosga, The Conversation, 17 Nov. 2025
  • Within a decade, Napoleon would reimpose slavery in French colonies – and shut the door on abolitionism for several decades.
    — Jeremy D. Popkin, The Conversation, 28 May 2026
  • Black churches were spaces where slave abolitionism was envisioned, and insurrections were planned.
    — Jason Oliver Evans, The Conversation, 3 Feb. 2023
  • Such images join a wealth of prints and ephemera from the leader, who escaped slavery in 1838 and spent his life devoted to abolitionism.
    — Roger Catlin, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Jan. 2023
  • How did the women's suffrage movement move from being very closely tied to abolitionism to largely excluding women of color?
    — Lila Thulin, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Mar. 2020
  • In the early 19th century, the suffrage movement had been entwined with abolitionism.
    — Laura Mallonee, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2022
  • Sumner was the rare northerner who combined an anti-slavery stance with abolitionism and an absolute conviction in equal rights.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 10 Feb. 2017
  • Cullors also includes personal anecdotes and the lessons she's learned from her time as an educator and activist, as well as a brief history of abolitionism.
    — Morgan Smith, PEOPLE.com, 25 Feb. 2021
  • The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act helped shatter this consensus and brought abolitionism far closer to the mainstream.
    — Stephen Mihm, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act helped shatter this consensus and brought abolitionism far closer to the mainstream.
    — Stephen Mihm, Twin Cities, 8 Feb. 2026
  • The idea for Alexander’s pose had a long history, reaching back to 18th-century British abolitionism.
    — Jake Lundberg, The Atlantic, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Pennsylvania Hall was newly built in 1838 with public funds and was meant to be a national center for abolitionism and equal rights.
    — Christy Clark-Pujara and Anna-Lisa Cox, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Aug. 2020
  • Racial equality, women's suffrage and abolitionism are political views, too.
    — Samantha Swindler, OregonLive.com, 14 Jan. 2018
  • Public education and abolitionism, for example, were the result of women whose names are, ironically, not often found in textbooks.
    — Seth Combs, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Mar. 2023
  • But Pinkerton’s abolitionism didn’t exactly make his agency progressive.
    — Sarah Jones, The New Republic, 23 Mar. 2018
  • Even New England, hotbed of abolitionism and birthplace of this magazine, got rich on textiles spun in the factories along the Merrimack.
    — Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2017
  • The rise of social movements such as abolitionism, labor reform, suffrage, and other reform movements also contributed to the increasing number of magazines.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 May 2026
  • Robert Dale Owen became a politician and advocated for universal education, women’s suffrage, and abolitionism at the state level.
    — Diana Budds, Curbed, 5 Aug. 2019
  • Emerson was writing amid a crisis of liberal democracy, when the fervor of abolitionism was starting to show its cracks and the politics of protest were being co-opted into mere symbolism and more self-interested agendas.
    — Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 11 June 2021
  • Although Cincinnati was a stronghold of abolitionism, and Duncanson found great success painting for a white patronage, racial animosity intensified as the decade wore on.
    — John Wilmerding, WSJ, 2 Sep. 2022
  • There is extensive instruction on the history and economics of the development of slavery, as well as abolitionism, slave revolts, and the Underground Railroad.
    — The Editors, National Review, 25 July 2023
  • Bates College, renamed in honor of its industrialist patron, was an early hotbed of abolitionism and one of the first schools to allow women and African Americans to study alongside white men.
    — Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC News, 27 Oct. 2023
  • Christian churches have historically been crucibles of leadership, voluntarism, and action for progressive social movements, from abolitionism to civil rights.
    — Hahrie Han, The New Republic, 11 Apr. 2018
  • Animal-rights abolitionists look for inspiration to the methods and the eventual success of classical abolitionism in destroying chattel slavery.
    — William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 15 May 2021
  • Finkelman, an expert on American slavery, said New York played a key role in abolishing slavery on a state level long before the 1830s, at the height of abolitionism.
    — Giselle Rhoden, CNN, 27 Feb. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'abolitionism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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