exploitation

UK/ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/US/ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/

nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,307 of 15,258leans written

Exploitation is using people or resources unfairly for gain. Labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, the exploitation of resources.

Of people it is always a condemnation. Of minerals and land it is a neutral technical term, so the exploitation of a coal seam means simply working it, and the same word carries a moral charge in one sentence and none in the next.

Definitions of exploitation

1nounexploitationUsing people or resources unfairly for gain.C1
“The report exposed the exploitation of children working in the factories.”

exploitation is a using.

Where it comes from

French exploitation comes from exploiter, to work or use, from Latin explicare, to unfold.

Latin
explicō — unfold, deploy
French
exploitation
English, today
exploitation

Built from

exploiter · French — exploit

Borrowed from French exploitation, from exploiter (“exploit”), from Latin explicō (“unfold, deploy”). by surface analysis, exploit + -ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

exploitation in the wild

Moreover, slavery's reach extends beyond explicit sexual exploitation.
Sexual slavery
Environmental degradation, human insecurity, and social conflict frequently accompany natural resource exploitation.
Exploitation of natural resources
The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films.
Sexploitation film
Nudist films are often considered to be subgenres of the sex-exploitation genre as well.
Sexploitation film
Karl Marx's theory of exploitation has been described in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as the most influential theory of exploitation.
Exploitation of labour

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

exploit

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