Did you know?
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
Literary Hub, 2 June 2026
The Black populations of France’s other colonies had to wait until 1848, when another revolution in Paris led to the passage of a second emancipation law – still 15 years in advance of Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation decree.
—Jeremy D. Popkin, The Conversation, 28 May 2026
His African ancestor had no name under the law, only a number and a registration code — the family that lived in Martinique was given the name Relouzat at emancipation, likely after Nelouzat, a village in the Auvergne region of central France.
—ABC News, 27 May 2026
The holiday itself goes back to 1865, when word of emancipation finally reached Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 14 May 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 5 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
emancipation
noun
Legal Definition
emancipation
noun
