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Exploitative is an adjective that describes someone or something that selfishly takes advantage of someone or a group of people in order to profit from them or otherwise benefit.

It comes from the verb exploit, which commonly means to take advantage in such a way. The act of doing so is exploitation.

As a verb, exploit can also be used in a more neutral way that doesn’t imply selfishness: to make the best use of something, especially an opportunity, or to create a profit or other benefit. But when the verb is applied to people, it is always used negatively.

Exploitative is only ever used negatively, and it always implies greed, selfishness, or unethical practices. It’s often used in the context of the exploitation of workers by businesses, especially in phrases like exploitative practices.��

Other, less common variations of exploitative are exploitive and exploitatory.

Example: The article exposes many of the industry’s exploitative business practices.

The first records of the word exploitative come from the late 1800s. Its base word, exploit, is recorded much earlier and derives from the Latin �����������ٳܲ�, meaning “unfolded” or “set forth.” It wasn’t until around the 1800s that exploit started to be used to refer to extracting natural resources from the earth, and then to using someone or something for one’s own selfish ends.

Exploitative is most often used in the context of taking advantage of people. It is especially used to refer to the exploitation of workers by businesses that underpay and overwork them, or that take advantage of them in other ways. Such actions are often called exploitative practices. Exploitative often implies that it’s being done by people who are in positions of power to those without power. Poor people and people of color are often targets of such exploitation.

What are some other forms related to exploitative?

• exploitive (adjective)
• exploitatory (adjective)
• exploitatively (adverb)
• exploit (verb)

What are some words that share a root or word element with exploitative?��

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• exploitation
• explicit
• explicate

What are some words that often get used in discussing exploitative?

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• practices
• business
• workers
• corporation
• poor
• profit
• advantage
• greed
• unethical

Exploit and exploitation can be used negatively or neutrally, but exploitative is always used in a negative way. It’s usually used in the context of people who are being exploited for profit.

Following the money points back to the exploitative practices of large corporations. The wealthy profit on the backs of the poor. No opinions there, just facts, m’am.

— Jaime Mathis (@_JMathis)

academics who write about harmful systems & yet feel no responsibility to support movements against harmful systems are simply exploitative. thanks

— micah herskind #8toabolition (@MicahHerskind)

Exploitative?! It was genocidal.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil)

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True or False?��

The word exploitative can be used in a positive way.