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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
Marcy Thompson, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2026
Yet emancipation came with a bargain.
—Kenneth L. Marcus, Boston Herald, 13 Apr. 2026
So the instrument became part of a process of emancipation and socialization.
—Tim Parks, New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2026
That’s an indicator of the government’s respect for Kimbangu as a champion of Black emancipation and highlights the Kimbanguist movement’s importance as a source of votes.
—Rodney Muhumuza, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for emancipation
Cite this Entry
“Emancipation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emancipation. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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emancipation
noun
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emancipation
noun
