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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
The South, for its part, responded in kind: secession swiftly forged a fractured region into a reactive unity, bound by fear of emancipation and faith in a mythic agrarian freedom.
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Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
By definition, the eight-day Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 12 Apr. 2025
And that was his emancipation proclamation, which promised freedom to anybody who was owned by a patriot who was willing to fight for the king.
—Ari Daniel, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025
Many of these letters were delivered by enslaved African Americans, some of whom were forced in the years before emancipation to serve as messengers going relatively short distances between plantations and towns.
—Sarah Prager, JSTOR Daily, 12 Mar. 2025
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Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
By definition, the eight-day Passover commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 12 Apr. 2025
And that was his emancipation proclamation, which promised freedom to anybody who was owned by a patriot who was willing to fight for the king.
—Ari Daniel, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2025
Many of these letters were delivered by enslaved African Americans, some of whom were forced in the years before emancipation to serve as messengers going relatively short distances between plantations and towns.
—Sarah Prager, JSTOR Daily, 12 Mar. 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 9 May. 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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