unshackle
Americanverb (used with object)
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unshackles,
present (3rd person singular)
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unshackled,
past participle, past
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unshackling
present participle
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to free from shackles; unfetter.
-
to free from restraint, as conversation.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unshacklesimple
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unshacklessimple
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have unshackledperfect
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has unshackledperfect
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am unshacklingprogressive
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are unshacklingprogressive
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is unshacklingprogressive
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have been unshacklingperfect progressive
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has been unshacklingperfect progressive
Past
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unshackledsimple
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had unshackledperfect
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was unshacklingprogressive
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were unshacklingprogressive
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had been unshacklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unshackle
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 wants to unshackle a defense industry that is stunted, as she sees it, by heavy restrictions on what it can sell overseas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
That should unshackle an “asphyxiated” economy, says Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
"He's been brought up as a young player in a very toxic male environment and you can imagine that he wants to unshackle himself, giving players their voice."
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2023
"Yes, I bake really well, and people enjoy it, but I really think I was pushed to do these things so I can liberate minds and unshackle us from our societal norms," he said.
From Salon ● May 1, 2023
And I felt in this a cosmic injustice, a profound cruelty, which infused an abiding, irrepressible desire to unshackle my body and achieve the velocity of escape.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
"We believe that now is the time to create a system that is fair and that unshackles millions of graduates from mountains of student loan debt," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
In the next room, Connie Samaras’ serendipitous landscape photograph unshackles whatever might be meant by being grounded.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
When the group does push into new territory — or more accurately, unshackles itself from familiar ground — it doesn’t leave much of an impact.
From New York Times ● Sep. 22, 2022
“When you turn your attention to those who have blessed you, it unshackles the toxic emotions we sometimes get mired in.”
From Washington Post ● May 29, 2022
Nothing is graver than freedom; liberty has burdens of her own, and lays on the conscience all the chains which she unshackles from the limbs.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 10 — Lives and Letters by Arthur Mee
It also possibly creates a newly unshackled competitor in global oil markets, with analysts predicting that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz could lead to a glut of oil next year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Following the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, the United States unshackled its railroads, allowing private operators to compete, set market-driven rates and dynamically reinvest in their own infrastructure.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
Streeting, now a backbencher, is unshackled from the obligations of front bench collective responsibility for the first time in years.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
“Scientific ingenuity, unshackled by overly burdensome regulations, provides solutions like carbon capture and storage technology that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2024
I see Master Clovell glaring at us, and I wonder how long Captain Smith will remain unshackled if he keeps talking this way about the gentlemen.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
For the writer-director, the movie represented a kind of unshackling from the obligations that had governed some of his past work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
But Kapur and Graft’s story — and by extension the story of Auroville — isn’t one of escape, of unshackling themselves from the clutches of a toxic cult for the safety of the real world.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2021
It was a new kind of freedom, the unshackling of his mind.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 23, 2019
Alexa then tells users that one of the bots will take over, unshackling the voice aide’s normal constraints.
From Reuters ● Dec. 21, 2018
What say you to getting the anchors aboard and unshackling the cables, eh?
From The White Squall A Story of the Sargasso Sea by J. Schonberg
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.
