noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/ˌmænjʊˈmɪʃn̩/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/ˌmænjəˈmɪʃən/
rhymes with -ɪʃən
CMU ARPABET:M AA2 N UW0 M IH1 SH AH0 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; the giving of freedom; (countable) an instance of this; an act of manumitting.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
From Late Middle English manumissioun (“(uncountable) release by a feudal superior or slaveowner from servitude, freedom from servitude; (countable) an instance of this; document granting such freedom; (figurative) Jesus’s redemption of humankind”), from Anglo-Norman manumission and Middle French manumission, and from their etymon Latin manūmissiō (“emancipation of a slave, manumission”), from manūmiss- (the perfect passive participle stem of manūmittō (“to emancipate, free, release”)) + -iō (suffix forming abstract nouns from verbs). Manūmittō is derived from manū (the ablative singular of manus (“hand”); further etymology uncertain, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh2- (“to beckon, signal”)) + mittō (“to discharge, release; to send”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth2- (“to release; to send; etc.”)).
Across languages
Translations
18 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Dutch:
vrijlating
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Finnish:
manumissio
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
French:
manumission
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
French:
affranchissement
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
German:
Freilassung
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Greek:
χειραφέτηση
(cheirafétisi)
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Italian:
manomissione
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Latin:
manūmissiō
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Macedonian:
ослободување роб
(osloboduvanje rob)
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Macedonian:
манумисија
(manumisija)
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Polish:
uwolnienie
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Polish:
uwłaszczenie
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Polish:
wyzwolenie
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Polish:
oswobodzenie
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Portuguese:
alforria
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Sumerian:
𒂼𒄄
(ama-gi)
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Sumerian:
𒂼𒅈𒄄
(ama-ar-gi)
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
Turkish:
azat etme
— release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; an instance of this
