exploitation
ex·ploi·ta·tion/ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/noun
exploitation is spelled E-X-P-L-O-I-T-A-T-I-O-N, 4 syllables: ex·ploi·ta·tion. The wrong spelling people search most is explotation: about 140 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 13 of all searches for the word. Exploitation is a noun meaning “The act of utilizing something; industry”. The plural of exploitation is exploitations.
How many letters and syllables are in exploitation?
| Letters | 12: E-X-P-L-O-I-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ex·ploi·ta·tion |
| In writing | 6.9 times per million words; the 9,045th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, explotation, about 140 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell exploitation?
Exploitation is spelled E-X-P-L-O-I-T-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 13 of the searches for exploitation in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is exploitation?
Exploitation appears 6.9 times per million words in written English, the 9,045th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce exploitation?
- /ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/
Exploitation has 4 syllables, split ex·ploi·ta·tion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-exploitation.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-exploitation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of exploitation
- exploitations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does exploitation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of utilizing something; industry.
the exploitation of natural resources
- 2
The improper use of something for selfish purposes.
the exploitation of children in beauty pageants
- 3
The act or result of forcibly depriving someone of something to which they have a right.
Undocumented migrants are vulnerable to exploitation.
- 4
The marketing and promotion of a film.
- 5
A genre of media focused on lurid depictions of topical social issues such as violence, sexuality and marginalized groups.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Exploitation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of exploiting:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | exploitation |
| German | Ausbeutung |
| Portuguese | exploração |
| Spanish | explotación |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does exploitation come from?
Borrowed from French exploitation, from exploiter (“exploit”), from Latin explicō (“unfold, deploy”). By surface analysis, exploit + -ation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).