manumit

verb

man·​u·​mit ˌman-yə-ˈmit 

manumitted; manumitting

transitive verb

: to release from slavery

Did you know?

To set someone free from captivity is in effect to release that person from the hand, or control, of the captor. You can use this analogy to remember that manumit derives ultimately from the Latin noun manus, meaning "hand," and the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to let go" or "send." The two roots joined hands in Latin to form the verb manumittere (meaning "to free from slavery"), which in turn passed into Anglo-French as manumettre and eventually into Middle English as manumitten. Manus has handed down other words to English as well. One of them is emancipate, which is both a relative and synonym of manumit.

Synonyms

• discharge
• disenthrall
• disenthral
• emancipate
• enfranchise
• enlarge
• free
• liberate
• loose
• loosen
• release
• spring
• unbind
• uncage
• unchain
• unfetter

Choose the Right Synonym for manumit

free, release, liberate, emancipate, manumit mean to set loose from restraint or constraint.

free implies a usually permanent removal from whatever binds, confines, entangles, or oppresses.

freed the animals from their cages

release suggests a setting loose from confinement, restraint, or a state of pressure or tension, often without implication of permanent liberation.

released his anger on a punching bag

liberate stresses particularly the resulting state of liberty.

liberated their country from the tyrant

emancipate implies the liberation of a person from subjection or domination.

labor-saving devices emancipated us from household drudgery

manumit implies emancipation from slavery.

the document manumitted the slaves

Examples of manumit in a Sentence

though he was an outspoken defender of liberty, this son of Virginia did not manumit his own slaves until he was on his deathbed

Recent Examples on the Web

Tubman’s father had been manumitted by his owner, but Brodess had inherited Tubman, hiring her and her siblings out to neighbors for seasonal work, whether trapping muskrats or clearing land. —Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 24 June 2024

Grant would manumit his one enslaved servant, William Jones, in 1859. —Harold Holzer, WSJ, 1 Jan. 2024

In one county, not a single enslaved person was manumitted in 1859. —John Reeves, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Dec. 2023

No evidence exists to suggest Kirby Smith did manumit him. —Cynthia Greenlee, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Jan. 2023

Some states, like the state of Georgia, passed expulsion laws that required blacks who were manumitted to leave the state within a year of their emancipation. —Tera W. Hunter, The Root, 15 May 2018

Word History

Etymology

Middle English manumitten, from Anglo-French manumettre, from Latin manumittere, from manus hand + mittere to let go, send

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

manumit

verb

man·​u·​mit ˌman-yə-ˈmit 

manumitted; manumitting

: to set free

especially : to release from slavery