Standard Lemma guide

unshackle

verb · 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

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  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 N SH AE1 K AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To remove shackles from someone or something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The captain ordered that the guards unshackle and release the prisoner, as he had served his sentence.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To remove restrictions or inhibitions; to allow full freedom and power.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 1818, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, On Poesy or Art Painting was, as it were, a new art, and being unshackled by old models it chose its own subjects, and took an eagle’s flight.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English shackle English unshackle From un- + shackle.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: свалям оковите (svaljam okovite) — to remove shackles
  • Dutch: ontboeien — to remove shackles
  • Dutch: bevrijden — to remove shackles
  • French: déchainer — to remove shackles
  • Bulgarian: освобождавам (osvoboždavam) — to remove restrictions or inhibitions
  • French: émanciper — to remove restrictions or inhibitions