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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Lightning looms as winds threaten to push the tower over, but somehow the rescue team frees him from the wreckage to safety.—
Bryan West,
Nashville Tennessean,
18 Oct. 2025
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The organization, which relies almost entirely on donations and volunteer fosters, is also calling attention to the overcrowding at local shelters and encourages people to adopt or foster animals to free up space, so more animals like Xiao Mao can get help.—
Moná Thomas,
PEOPLE,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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According to reports, the 49ers are releasing Marquez Valdes-Scantling with an injury settlement.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 Oct. 2025
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In Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, large crowds of demonstrators gathered on Saturday, urging the government to pressure Hamas to release the bodies.—
Ibrahim Dahman,
CNN Money,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Do recall that last week’s successful maneuver to liberate themselves from lockdown was a true group effort, with Lamb subtly engaging a room full of his people to turn the tables on their Park captors.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
15 Oct. 2025
-
Detouring into satire would give that notion some pause and would give my writing some wings, liberating me from self-consciousness and untethering me from reality.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Over the course of the war, more than 150 hostages were freed during ceasefires, either in the first two or the current one, and more than a half dozen were rescued during Israeli operations in Gaza, The Washington Post noted.—
Jared Gans,
The Hill,
14 Oct. 2025
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Meanwhile Oakland County first responders had to rescue a deer that made it to the median of Interstate 75 and then couldn't escape.—
Sarah Moore,
Freep.com,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This is well over a dozen years before Black people are declared emancipated.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
25 Sep. 2025
-
In the Revolutionary War itself, Britain’s Lord Dunmore had emancipated large numbers of southern slaves as a war measure—a fact well-known in both the 1770s and the 1860s.—
Akhil Reed Amar,
Time,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, which enfranchised formerly enslaved men, seemingly brought the push for voting rights to fruition.—
Time,
Time,
12 Sep. 2025
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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
Verb
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Just this summer, in June, the board approved moving seventh- and eighth-grade students from yellow school buses to the Metro in a move that saves CPS almost $3 million per year.—
Grace Tucker,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
15 Oct. 2025
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That is, aside from the hijinks of Trump trying to kill his unborn baby to save his nights at Mar-a-Lago.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
15 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Manumit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/manumit. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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