How to say "exploitation" in Japanese

• 搾取さくしゅCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers exploitation of people: squeezing workers or the weak for labor or profit. The image of bleeding someone dry makes this the word for unfair, one-sided exploitation.
  雇い主やといぬしは、時ときに従業員じゅうぎょういんを搾取さくしゅする。↗

  Employers sometimes exploit their workers.
• 酷使こくしCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbExploitation in the sense of overuse or abuse: using people or things harshly and working them too hard. The emphasis falls on excessive use rather than on extracting profit.
  酷使こくしされている不法ふほう外国人労働者がいこくじんろうどうしゃは制度せいどの隙間すきまにこぼれ落おちてしまうことが多おおいのです。↗

  Mistreated illegal foreign workers often fall between the cracks of the social system.
• 収奪しゅうだつCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbExploitation understood as plunder: seizing and stripping away wealth from a land or people. Use it where the emphasis is on taking something away, as 'plundering' suggests.
• 拓殖たくしょくCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbRarely the word you want for 'exploitation': it means colonization, settlement and development of land. Its 'exploitation' sense is that of opening up territory, not of mistreating people.
• 開発かいはつJLPT N1approx.Common
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers 'exploitation of resources': developing resources and putting them to use. For exploitation of people or their labor, this is not the word.

For exploiting people use 搾取; for working someone or something too hard use 酷使; for plundering wealth use 収奪; 拓殖 is really about colonization, and 開発 covers exploitation of resources.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 搾取さくしゅexploitation
• 酷使こくしexploitation
• 収奪しゅうだつplundering
• 拓殖たくしょくcolonization
• エクスプロイテーションexploitation
• 開発かいはつexploitation (of resources)