as in to liberate
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Recent Examples of unshackle
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
Buckeyes faithful — scarlet-clad, drunken, frigid from the cold — were finally unshackled from all those losses to Michigan and all those unmet expectations.
—Justin Williams, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
Top executives, including Zuckerberg, sense a new permission structure to speak their minds, unshackled.
—Neal Rothschild, Axios, 20 Jan. 2025
That tactic was what unlocked Duke’s defense two seasons ago, when Scheyer similarly unshackled a previous 7-footer: Dereck Lively II, now the Dallas Mavericks’ starting center.
—Brendan Marks, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unshackle
Alice George, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Feb. 2025
Buckeyes faithful — scarlet-clad, drunken, frigid from the cold — were finally unshackled from all those losses to Michigan and all those unmet expectations.
—Justin Williams, The Athletic, 21 Jan. 2025
Top executives, including Zuckerberg, sense a new permission structure to speak their minds, unshackled.
—Neal Rothschild, Axios, 20 Jan. 2025
That tactic was what unlocked Duke’s defense two seasons ago, when Scheyer similarly unshackled a previous 7-footer: Dereck Lively II, now the Dallas Mavericks’ starting center.
—Brendan Marks, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unshackle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unshackle
Verb
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That was really liberating at the time for women and looked scary to men.—
A Martínez,
NPR,
7 Mar. 2025
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This might fly in the face of everything a business leader has been taught about being an expert, but trust me, the results of this kind of thinking are liberating.—
Christian Davies FCSD,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
Verb
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The mother-daughter duo went their separate ways when Drew was emancipated at the age of 14.—
Nicole Briese,
People.com,
22 Feb. 2025
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In February 1991, the child star emancipated herself at the age of 14 and moved into an apartment of her own.—
Nicole Briese,
People.com,
22 Feb. 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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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
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After the Third Reform Act of 1884, six of 10 adult Englishmen were enfranchised.—
Geoffrey Wheatcroft,
New York Times,
18 Jan. 2025
Verb
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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
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The blazers who run the major championships have not yet commissioned sculptures of these two women, who so unbound their sport and gave the gift of professional aspiration to so many.—
Sally Jenkins,
Anchorage Daily News,
3 July 2023
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 24 Mar. 2025.
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