The act of freeing someone from legal, social, or political restrictions, especially the liberation from slavery or oppression. Most famously refers to the freeing of enslaved people in the United States during the Civil War.
From Latin emancipatio, derived from emancipare meaning 'to release from paternal authority', composed of ex- 'out of' and mancipium 'ownership'. Originally a Roman legal term for releasing a son from paternal control, it evolved to encompass broader concepts of liberation from bondage.
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