Synonym Chooser

How does the verb emancipate differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of emancipate are free, liberate, manumit, and release. While all these words mean "to set loose from restraint or constraint," emancipate implies the liberation of a person from subjection or domination.

labor-saving devices emancipated us from household drudgery

When might free be a better fit than emancipate?

While the synonyms free and emancipate are close in meaning, free implies a usually permanent removal from whatever binds, confines, entangles, or oppresses.

freed the animals from their cages

In what contexts can liberate take the place of emancipate?

The meanings of liberate and emancipate largely overlap; however, liberate stresses particularly the resulting state of liberty.

liberated their country from the tyrant

When could manumit be used to replace emancipate?

The words manumit and emancipate are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, manumit implies emancipation from slavery.

the document manumitted the slaves

When would release be a good substitute for emancipate?

In some situations, the words release and emancipate are roughly equivalent. However, 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

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of emancipate The mother-daughter duo went their separate ways when Drew was emancipated at the age of 14. Nicole Briese, People.com, 22 Feb. 2025 In 2015, at age 17, she was legally emancipated from her mother. Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 22 Dec. 2024 In that agreement, all Black people who had been enslaved by the Muscogee Nation were emancipated and provided with full Creek citizenship privileges, including the right to landownership. Caleb Gayle, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024 France was the first European country to emancipate the Jewish people, during the French Revolution, and Jewish street names and quarters can be found across the country. Colette Davidson, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for emancipate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emancipate
Verb
  • Another endangered fish, northern tidewater gobies, were rescued from the same watershed shortly before the steelhead were liberated.
    Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2025
  • Just as my ancient and modern ancestors found freedom from oppression, so can each of us be liberated from today’s challenges by crafting a future built on deeds of lovingkindness.
    Maria Zimina, New York Daily News, 20 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Four months into his second term, the sprint is on: SAB 121 is gone, freeing banks from punitive capital rules on digital‑asset custody; April’s bill scrapped the nightmare cost‑basis paperwork for DeFi; and the DOJ has shuttered its crypto task force, vowing to chase scammers, not software.
    Crypto Confidential, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
  • In the month following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack and Hamas's seizing of hundreds of Israeli hostages, Francis had prayed they would soon be freed and called for dialogue.
    Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • August reservations will be released on July 1 and so on.
    Eve Chen, USA Today, 29 Apr. 2025
  • No other information about the incident was released.
    David Matthews, New York Daily News, 29 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • To protect a batch of sea turtle eggs from possible poachers, the group rescued them and hatched them in a lab before releasing 100 baby sea turtles into the ocean.
    Terry Baddoo, USA Today, 22 Apr. 2025
  • Then: Joel rescued her, just in the nick of time, and offered her a horse ride with him and Dina — but to where?
    Tom Gliatto, People.com, 21 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Some other states specifically prohibit localities from enfranchising noncitizens.
    Jennifer Peltz, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2025
  • Thus enfranchised, Hackman took on Richard Harris’ elegant killer English Bob with gusto, mixing in a bravura oratorical gavotte with ample kicks to the ribs, and summoning the Best Supporting Actor trophy.
    Fred Schruers, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Bobby manages to save Chimney, who falls ill and starts coughing up blood while responding to the lab blaze.
    Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2025
  • Governments couldn’t borrow money at home or abroad to save the banks or to meet their debt obligations, much less to spend their way out of the recession.
    JAVIER CORRALES, Foreign Affairs, 22 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slashed crash reporting requirements and loosened safety requirements for test vehicles, giving the auto industry more room to experiment, though whether that's at the expense of public safety remains to be seen.
    Emily Forlini, PC Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025
  • For the first time this series, the Avalanche were scrambling, loosening up offensively, which invariably loosened things up defensively.
    Mark Lazerus, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025
Verb
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Emancipate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/emancipate. Accessed 3 May. 2025.

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