emancipate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to free from restraint, influence, or the like.
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to free (a person) from bondage or slavery.
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Roman and Civil Law. to terminate paternal control over.
verb
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to free from restriction or restraint, esp social or legal restraint
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(often passive) to free from the inhibitions imposed by conventional morality
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to liberate (a slave) from bondage
Related Words
See release.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of emancipate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin ēmancipātus (past participle of ēmancipāre ) “freed from control,” equivalent to ē- “out of, from” ( see e- 1) + man(us) “hand” + -cip- (combining form of capere “to seize”) + -ātus past participle suffix ( see -ate 1)
Explanation
If you emancipate someone, you set them free from something. At the end of the Civil War, slaves were emancipated and became free men and women. If you break down emancipate, you have e- "out," -man- from the Latin manus "hand," and -cip- from the Latin verb "to take." Put it together, and you have "to be taken out of someone's hands" — a good definition of freedom. The American Revolution was about colonists emancipating themselves from British rule. As a legal term, if a child is emancipated, he or she is declared independent from parental control.
Vocabulary lists containing emancipate
Brown Girl Dreaming
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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Body Language: Man ("Hand")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Leaders of the North Carolina Black Alliance, Emancipate NC and a minister spoke at a Legislative Building news conference in support of Anita Earls, who is the only Black woman on the seven-member court.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 30, 2023
They say they have been involved in the conception of the Freedom and Right to Emancipate from Exploitation Act, a bipartisan bill to make conservatorships more transparent.
From Washington Post • Oct. 23, 2021
Cierra Cobb, a Black trainee paralegal, and advocate for Emancipate NC, believes institutional racism is part of the problem.
From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2021
“Stand up for what you believe in. Be more than rhetoric,” Emancipate NC Executive Director Dawn Blagrove said, referring to Stein.
From Washington Times • Mar. 30, 2021
Emancipate yourselves from the tyranny of the former; strive to attain the latter.
From The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons by Olcott, Henry Steel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
