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To emancipate someone (including oneself) is to free them from restraint, control, or the power of another, and especially to free them from bondage or enslavement. It follows that the noun emancipation refers to the act or practice of emancipating. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, for example, ordered that enslaved people living in the Confederate states be released from the bonds of ownership and made free people. It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the enslaved communities in the distant state of Texas. The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday—Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.
Examples of emancipation in a Sentence
Michael Barnes, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
Today, Juneteenth has become a global celebration embraced by the African diaspora as a powerful reminder of emancipation, resilience, and joy.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 20 June 2025
The holiday commemorates the June 19, 1865, emancipation of the last African American enslaved people in Texas in the wake of the Civil War.
—Deena Zaru, ABC News, 18 June 2025
At the time, Texas had a minimal number of Union soldiers to enforce the proclamation’s emancipation of enslaved people residing within Confederate territory.
—Timothy Welbeck, The Conversation, 16 June 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 21 Jul. 2025.
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