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
Synonym Usage
See release.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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emancipatornoun
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emancipatedadjective
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emancipativeadjective
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emancipatoryadjective
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nonemancipativeadjective
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unemancipativeadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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emancipatesimple
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emancipatessimple
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have emancipatedperfect
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has emancipatedperfect
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am emancipatingprogressive
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are emancipatingprogressive
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is emancipatingprogressive
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have been emancipatingperfect progressive
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has been emancipatingperfect progressive
Past
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emancipatedsimple
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had emancipatedperfect
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was emancipatingprogressive
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were emancipatingprogressive
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had been emancipatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
“She’s a Black woman who found ways to liberate and emancipate herself in this society, in this world, on her own terms, and that’s what I take away from her legacy,” said Christovale.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
Bynes' home environment was so troubling that she attempted to emancipate from her parents.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2024
Following the French Revolution, much of Western Europe began to emancipate their Jews—but by the mid-19th century, it became clear that the initial promise of emancipation had not brought about the dreamed-for safety.
From Slate ● Dec. 10, 2023
How were you able to emancipate yourself from shame?
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
Lafayette had already attempted without success to convince George Washington to emancipate his slaves and allow them to live in freedom on an island Lafayette offered to purchase.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
“When I do that, it emancipates me. When I put it in my films, I get rid of it.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2023
The New York Herald said of Lincoln’s order: “While the proclamation leaves slavery untouched where his decree can be enforced, he emancipates slaves where his decree cannot be enforced.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 1, 2019
And the third, optimistically entitled ‘The robot emancipates itself’, explores their present status and looks to the future.
From Nature ● Apr. 26, 2018
Is a society that, in many ways, emancipates women from marriage, and gives them sexual freedom, actually producing glorified 1950s housewives who have no choices other than motherhood?
From The Guardian ● Apr. 1, 2017
But increasing culture presents new ideals, and the mind, absorbing the ethical spirit of its environment, gradually emancipates itself from conventions and superstitions.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various
The 54-year-old pastor, a former rector of the Christian University of Sumba, wants atas to be emancipated.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Now all my kids have been emancipated for seven years.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
For Pontormo, who studied with Leonardo da Vinci and was influenced by Michelangelo and Dürer, it’s the painting that shows him stylistically emancipated from those giants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Abraham practically brings the house down with “Independently Owned,” an anthem to her character’s emancipated spirit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
In history class, Gogol has learned that European immigrants had their names changed at Ellis Island, that slaves renamed themselves once they were emancipated.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Latching on to the emancipating power of the word "semi," she wrote a "Semi-Homemade" cookbook, and then another.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2024
Proceeds from the auction are intended to finance a memorial garden honoring Mr. Mandela, who dedicated most of his life to emancipating South Africa from white minority rule, the organizers said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
She ran away to New York as a young teen, and spent time in the Louisiana Training Institute for Girls in Pineville before emancipating at age 18.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2022
As a defense tactic, Black performers contrived a creative strategy that was at once entertaining and emancipating.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2021
If the truth could be known, I think it would appear that Dr. Palfrey had lost more reputation in Boston than he gained, by emancipating the human beings which fell to his lot.
From Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Sermons, Volume 3 (of 3) by Parker, Theodore
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.
