What does "emancipate" mean?
To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.
Emancipate
/ɪˈmæn(t)sɪpeɪt/ adj, verb
adj, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.
- Grammar: emancipate is listed as adj, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: liberate, affranchise, become independent, decolonize.
- Useful contrasts: downtrodden, enthralling, brainwashed.
- Usage evidence: There are five ways to emancipate themselves from the bond of worldly passions.
How to use "emancipate"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "emancipate" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "emancipate" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "emancipate" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "emancipate" is acting as adj, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "liberate" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate. transitive
"[T]his was his [God's] first work,to redeem, to vindicate them from the usurper, to deliver them from the intruder, to emancipate them from the tyrant, to cancel the covenant between hell and them, and restore them. so far to their liberty, as that they might come to their first Master if they would: this was redeeming."
- 2 free from slavery or servitude wordnet
- 3 To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.; To cause (a place) to be free from the colonization or rule of another entity. transitive
"to emancipate a colony"
- 4 give equal rights to; of women and minorities wordnet
- 5 To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.; Often followed by from: chiefly with reference to slavery in the United States, and in Central and South America: to set free (oneself or someone) from imprisonment, or from serfdom or slavery. also, reflexive, transitive
"to pass a law emancipating slaves"
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To set free (a person or group) from the oppression or restraint of another; to liberate.; To release (a minor) from the legal authority and custody which a parent or guardian has over them; also (Ancient Rome, historical), to release (a child) from the legal authority of the paterfamilias. transitive
"The child was emancipated from her parents"
- 7 Often followed by from: to free (oneself or someone, or something) from some constraint or controlling influence (especially when evil or undue); also, to free (oneself or someone) from mental oppression. also, figuratively, reflexive, transitive
"Education can emancipate us from error or prejudices."
- 8 To place (something) under one's control; specifically (chiefly reflexive), to cause (oneself or someone) to become the slave of another person; to enslave; also, to subjugate (oneself or someone). obsolete, transitive
"He that vvill ſinne vnto death, or ſinne ſo farre as to put himſelfe into the ſtate of damnation; muſt ſinne ſo farre, as vtterly to ſeparate, and cut off himſelfe from Chriſt, vtterly to extirpate all the ſeeds and habits of true and ſauing grace vvhich are vvithin him, and vvholly to emancipate and inthrall himſelfe to the ſeruice of ſinne and Sathan: […]"
- 9 To become free from the oppression or restraint of another. intransitive, obsolete
"We shall hardly induce black men to believe that if their stomachs be full, it matters little about their brains. They already dimly perceive that the paths of peace winding between honest toil and dignified manhood call for the guidance of skilled thinkers, the loving, reverent comradeship between the black lowly and the black men emancipated by training and culture."
Adjective
- 1 Synonym of emancipated (“having been set free from someone's control, or from some constraint; at liberty, free”).
"For I doe take the conſideration in generall, and at large of hvmane natvre to be fit to be emancipate, & made a knovvledge by it ſelf; […]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"There are five ways to emancipate themselves from the bond of worldly passions."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "emancipate"?
Common synonyms include: liberate, affranchise, become independent, decolonize, decolonized, decolonizes.
How do you use "emancipate" in a sentence?
There are five ways to emancipate themselves from the bond of worldly passions.
How do you pronounce "emancipate"?
Pronounced /ɪˈmæn(t)sɪpeɪt/.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin ēmancipātus (“liberated, emancipated”) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and adjectives with the sense ‘characterized by the specified thing’). Ēmancipātus is the perfect passive participle of ēmancipō (“to declare (someone) free and independent of another’s power, emancipate; to give (something) from one’s authority or power into that of another, to alienate, transfer; to cause (oneself or someone) to become another’s slave; to make (someone) subservient”), from ē- (a variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + mancipō (“to sell; to transfer”) (from manceps (“owner, possessor; purchaser; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs)); and manceps is from Proto-Italic *manukaps, from *manus (“hand”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon; to signal”)) + *-kaps (suffix denoting a catcher) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grab, seize; to hold”); referring to one who catches something in the hand). The verb emancipate has verb sense 1.1 (“to set free”) and verb sense 1.3 (“(obsolete) to place under one’s control”) which are contradictory. The Latin word ēmancipō had the same senses, and the Oxford English Dictionary notes that according to the Latin grammarian Paulus Festus (fl. 8th century) this is because both actions were effected by the legal process of mancipation.