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To emancipate someone (including oneself) is to free them from restraint, control, or the power of another, and especially to free them from bondage or enslavement. It follows that the noun emancipation refers to the act or practice of emancipating. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, for example, ordered that enslaved people living in the Confederate states be released from the bonds of ownership and made free people. It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the enslaved communities in the distant state of Texas. The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday—Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.
Examples of emancipation in a Sentence
Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
Following emancipation, Black families fought to reunite, underscoring the idea of family as foundational to their status as free people, as described by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
—Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 13 Aug. 2025
This is how digital access becomes a tool of emancipation, empowering individuals to become global citizens who understand that their local actions can have global resonance, and vice versa.
—Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2025
The son had requested emancipation from Gaviola and obtained a domestic violence protection order against her from the Fresno County Superior Court.
—Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for emancipation
Cite this Entry
“Emancipation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emancipation. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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emancipation
noun
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emancipation
noun
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