antislavery

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌæntiˈsleɪvəri/ UK /ˌantiˈsleɪvəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
opposed to slavery, or the movement against it

The newspaper became a leading voice in the antislavery cause.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · opposed to slavery, or the... abolitionistabolitionism

Opposites

proslavery

Word family

Related forms slavery slave abolition

Etymology

A 19th-century formation from anti- ('against') + slavery, the latter from slave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus ('Slav', from the enslavement of Slavic peoples).

antí Ancient Greek sclavus la-med

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# antislavery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌæntiˈsleɪvəri/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌantiˈsleɪvəri/

## Meanings
1. opposed to slavery, or the movement against it

## Examples
- The newspaper became a leading voice in the antislavery cause.

## Synonyms
- abolitionist
- abolitionism

## Antonyms
- proslavery

## Related Forms
- slavery
- slave
- abolition

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: antí
- Root: sclavus

## Etymology
A 19th-century formation from anti- ('against') + slavery, the latter from slave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus ('Slav', from the enslavement of Slavic peoples).

## AI Etymology
antislavery is a 19th-century formation from anti- ('against') + slavery, the latter from slave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclavus ('Slav', from the enslavement of Slavic peoples). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the adjective sense is "opposed to slavery, or the movement against it", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as slavery, slave, abolition, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Ancient Greek antí, Latin sclavus, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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