as in to liberate
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Recent Examples of unshackle
At the prison, Van Tassel sat in the interview room and waited for Melissa to be unshackled and strip-searched.
—
Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
The administration will likely attempt to unshackle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage guarantors, from their current position as wards of the state, Andrea Riquier reports.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2025
Now, unshackled from those responsibilities and likely headed for the chamber’s exit doors, the 82-year-old is increasingly irking his GOP colleagues while offering Democrats welcomed surprises after bucking a high-profile trio of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
—Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Feb. 2025
That year’s Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display used the song to unshackle a city imprisoned by a pandemic.
—Alice George, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unshackle
Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
The administration will likely attempt to unshackle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage guarantors, from their current position as wards of the state, Andrea Riquier reports.
—Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2025
Now, unshackled from those responsibilities and likely headed for the chamber’s exit doors, the 82-year-old is increasingly irking his GOP colleagues while offering Democrats welcomed surprises after bucking a high-profile trio of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
—Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Feb. 2025
That year’s Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks display used the song to unshackle a city imprisoned by a pandemic.
—Alice George, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unshackle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unshackle
Verb
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Photo: Courtesy of Hannah Jackson Eighty years ago today, on April 11, 1945, Morris was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp in Weimar, Germany.—
Hannah Jackson,
Vogue,
11 Apr. 2025
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In liberating Hollywood movies from the social context, younger viewers also liberated them from their commercial roots, from the very notion of popularity, which was central to Kael’s understanding of the art of movies.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Jefferson later maintained that any decision to emancipate slaves must be part of a democratic process and not handed down by, say, executive order.—
Faith Karimi,
CNN Money,
29 Mar. 2025
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At the age of 14, Culkin emancipated himself from his parents.—
Janelle Ash,
Fox News,
14 Mar. 2025
Verb
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When Henson refused to unchain herself from the fence, California Highway Patrol arrested her.—
Kate Talerico,
The Mercury News,
7 Aug. 2024
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Max eventually unchains himself and helps Furiosa in her quest to free the cult leader's wives, gaining mutual respect along the way.—
EW Staff,
EW.com,
3 July 2024
Verb
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As spring ends, maple trees begin to unfetter winged seeds that flutter and swirl from branches to land gently on the ground.—
Nikk Ogasa,
Scientific American,
22 Sep. 2021
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His long run in office, however, delivered only partial victories on his two primary ambitions: to unfetter Japan’s military after decades of postwar pacifism and to jump-start and overhaul its economy through a program known as Abenomics.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
8 July 2022
Verb
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Some other states specifically prohibit localities from enfranchising noncitizens.—
Jennifer Peltz,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Mar. 2025
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Thus enfranchised, Hackman took on Richard Harris’ elegant killer English Bob with gusto, mixing in a bravura oratorical gavotte with ample kicks to the ribs, and summoning the Best Supporting Actor trophy.—
Fred Schruers,
IndieWire,
27 Feb. 2025
Verb
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But for Buddhists, dying is an opportunity to unbind from the past and start again.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
16 Mar. 2025
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The book was centered on the idea that Russia’s geography is its fate and that there is nothing any ruler can do to unbind himself from the necessities of securing his lands.—
Anton Barbashin,
Foreign Affairs,
31 Mar. 2014
Verb
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Events unmoor themselves from context.—
Elizabeth Nelson,
New York Times,
6 Oct. 2021
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From the death of her father at 13 to her mother's refusal to take in Owusu and her sister afterward, the author navigates hardships and searches for identity, eventually pulling herself back together following a breakdown that threatens to unmoor her.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes,
8 June 2021
Verb
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Tubman’s father had been manumitted by his owner, but Brodess had inherited Tubman, hiring her and her siblings out to neighbors for seasonal work, whether trapping muskrats or clearing land.—
Casey Cep,
The New Yorker,
24 June 2024
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Grant would manumit his one enslaved servant, William Jones, in 1859.—
Harold Holzer,
WSJ,
1 Jan. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Unshackle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unshackle. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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