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The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, ordered that enslaved people living in rebellious territories be released from the bonds of ownership and made free people—their own masters. Though the proclamation's initial impact was limited, the order was true to the etymology of emancipation, which comes from a Latin word combining the prefix e-, meaning "away," and mancipare, meaning "to transfer ownership of.”
Examples of emancipation in a Sentence
a book discussing the role that the emancipation of slaves played in the nation's history
Recent Examples on the Web
But as the nineteenth century plodded onward, abolitionists had developed increasingly persuasive arguments for emancipation, provoking slaveowners to answer with a vicious theory of Black inferiority to defend bondage.
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Literary Hub, 5 June 2025
After all, abstraction had been in the service of spiritual liberation and social emancipation since its inception, and had always appeared in opposition to the totally reified world of Duchamp’s readymade.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
At the Baltimore convention that renominated Lincoln, Raymond wrote the resolutions that put emancipation at the center of the 1864 campaign:
As slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion . . .
—Matthew Karp, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025
The Art Of Joy follows a woman born into modest circumstances in Sicily in 1900, who goes on navigate life in a convent, and then carves herself out a place in aristocratic household achieving happiness and emancipation in the process.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 7 Apr. 2025
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Literary Hub, 5 June 2025
After all, abstraction had been in the service of spiritual liberation and social emancipation since its inception, and had always appeared in opposition to the totally reified world of Duchamp’s readymade.
—Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, Artforum, 1 June 2025
At the Baltimore convention that renominated Lincoln, Raymond wrote the resolutions that put emancipation at the center of the 1864 campaign:
As slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this Rebellion . . .
—Matthew Karp, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025
The Art Of Joy follows a woman born into modest circumstances in Sicily in 1900, who goes on navigate life in a convent, and then carves herself out a place in aristocratic household achieving happiness and emancipation in the process.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for emancipation
Cite this Entry
“Emancipation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emancipation. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
emancipation
noun
eman·ci·pa·tion
i-ˌman(t)-sə-ˈpā-shən 
: gradual separation of an original homogeneous embryo into fields with different specific potentialities for development
Legal Definition
emancipation
noun
eman·ci·pa·tion
i-ˌman-sə-ˈpā-shən
: the act or process of emancipating
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