as in to free
to set free (as from slavery or confinement)
though he was an outspoken defender of liberty, this son of Virginia did not manumit his own slaves until he was on his deathbed
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Recent Examples of manumit
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for manumit
Verb
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Of the survivors, Superman works with Raven to find Constantine and help locate Robin, who’s on a quest to free Batman from slavery.—
Will Harris,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Sep. 2025
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His fellow firefighters, including Gallagher —who was injured during the rescue — used extra manpower and tools to free him before he was stabilized at the scene and flown by CareFlite to the hospital, the department said.—
Shambhavi Rimal,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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On Tuesday, 85 scientists released a 459-page rebuttal to the DOE report, highlighting a large body of scientific literature pointing to how climate change can exacerbate droughts, floods, crop failures, and other disasters.—
Robert Schmad,
The Washington Examiner,
7 Sep. 2025
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The panel studying those cases released a report last year describing how the state child welfare agency missed warning signs and failed to protect dozens of children from dying of the illicit drug.—
Laura Bauer,
Kansas City Star,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Others – like Boris – are liberated by it.—
David Lyman,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
4 Sep. 2025
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Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Ozon diverges from the text in a few key places to offer a postcolonial reading of a novel that was published two decades before Algeria liberated itself from French rule.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The Florida Aquarium has 100 adult corals that were rescued from disease and then rescued from the 2023 marine heat wave.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
3 Sep. 2025
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At the time of Sunday’s disaster, the Taliban government was using helicopters to rescue those affected by the quake, as the mountainous terrain and landslides triggered by the natural disaster made providing aid challenging.—
David Chiu,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Some of the cattle roaming the marsh are rumored to be the feral descendants of herds emancipated two decades ago by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall about five miles upriver.—
Nathaniel Rich,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
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The federal government's few attempts to transition the recently emancipated into the postwar economy were inadequate, historians believe.—
Andrea Riquier,
USA Today,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Open primaries would enfranchise more than a million New York voters, who are disproportionately young and represent communities of color.—
John Avlon,
New York Daily News,
7 July 2025
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About a year after the infirmary team returned to the United States, the 19th Amendment became law, enfranchising 27 million women, the largest expansion of voting rights in American history.—
Amy Sohn,
Smithsonian Magazine,
27 June 2025
Verb
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The two wanted the Power of Veto winner to use the ability to keep Panaro, but instead, the winner saved themselves.—
Dina Kaur,
AZCentral.com,
4 Sep. 2025
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For engineers and designers, this framework is like giving a GPS map through the complex terrain of foam design—saving months of trial-and-error testing.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Manumit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/manumit. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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