emancipate
- to free from restraint, influence, or the like.
- to free (a slave) from bondage.
- Roman and Civil Law. to terminate paternal control over.
Origin of emancipate
Synonym study
Related Words
loosenliberateunbindloosedeliverenfranchisedisencumberreleasedischargemanumitaffranchiseunchaindisenthralunfetterunshackleExamples from the Web for emancipate
Contemporary Examples
The desire to emancipate Greece, the birthplace of democracy, ran strong among the British for centuries.
Poet and Rake, Lord Byron Was Also an Interventionist With Brains and SavvyMichael Weiss
February 16, 2014
Was the president planning to act on the wishes of the radicals of his party and emancipate all the slaves?
Lincoln the Primitive Communicator? What He Can Teach Modern PoliticiansDouglas L. Wilson
December 15, 2012
Namely, that we are narcissistic, entitled, financial drains on our parents, unable to emancipate, and excessively solipsistic.
“Like so many other young people in this country, Timmy, when he reached age 18, was allowed to emancipate,” says Jeannette.
Historical Examples
There was a Spartan law forbidding masters to emancipate their slaves.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
He could not emancipate himself sufficiently from the tumult of his own sympathies.
Diderot and the EncyclopdistsJohn Morley
It neither made him to be humane to his slaves, nor to emancipate them.
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass
And my family have been voting for two centuries to emancipate this fellow!
The Young DukeBenjamin Disraeli
The disposition to emancipate them is strongest in Virginia.
Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800William Frederick Poole
emancipate
- to free from restriction or restraint, esp social or legal restraint
- (often passive) to free from the inhibitions imposed by conventional morality
- to liberate (a slave) from bondage
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for emancipate
v.
1620s, from Latin emancipatus, past participle of emancipare "declare (someone) free, give up one's authority over," in Roman law, the freeing of a son or wife from the legal authority (patria potestas) of the pater familias, to make his or her own way in the world; from ex- "out, away" (see ex-) + mancipare "deliver, transfer or sell," from mancipum "ownership," from manus "hand" (see manual) + capere "take" (see capable). Related: Emancipated; emancipating. Adopted in the cause of religious toleration (17c.), then anti-slavery (1776). Also used in reference to women who free themselves from conventional customs (1850).