liberate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
liberates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
liberated,
past participle, past
-
liberating
present participle
-
to set free, as from imprisonment or bondage.
- Synonyms:
- loose, disenthrall, unfetter, deliver
-
to free (a nation or area) from control by a foreign or oppressive government.
-
to free (a group or individual) from social or economic constraints or discrimination, especially arising from traditional role expectations or bias.
-
to disengage; set free from combination, as a gas.
-
Slang. to steal or take over illegally.
The soldiers liberated a consignment of cigarettes.
verb
-
to give liberty to; make free
-
to release (something, esp a gas) from chemical combination during a chemical reaction
-
to release from occupation or subjugation by a foreign power
-
to free from social prejudices or injustices
-
euphemistic to steal
Synonym Usage
See release.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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liberatornoun
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preliberateverb (used with object)
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reliberateverb (used with object)
-
liberativeadjective
-
liberatoryadjective
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unliberatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
liberatesimple
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liberatessimple
-
have liberatedperfect
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has liberatedperfect
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am liberatingprogressive
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are liberatingprogressive
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is liberatingprogressive
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have been liberatingperfect progressive
-
has been liberatingperfect progressive
Past
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liberatedsimple
-
had liberatedperfect
-
was liberatingprogressive
-
were liberatingprogressive
-
had been liberatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of liberate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin līberātus (past participle of līberāre “to free”), equivalent to līberā- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix. See liberal, -ate 1
Explanation
To liberate something means to release it from confinement. As the saying goes, "If you love something, set it free," — liberate it. Liberate is a powerful verb he verb that has been an important part of the history of the United States. In the Revolutionary War we fought to liberate ourselves from Great Britain, and the Civil War was fought in part to liberate the Southern slaves. As recently as the 1920's, women sought to be liberated from second-class citizen status. Even today, there are rebel groups in foreign countries striving to liberate their people who are denied freedom by their governments.
Vocabulary lists containing liberate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Vandalizing the cameras is a sharp rebuttal to Silicon Valley talk about how technology will liberate us from the limitations of the physical world.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
In theory, we could able to liberate ourselves of dull, menial tasks, such as replying to emails, going to meetings or managing calendars and diaries, by delegating these to capable bots.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
A cleaning tip to liberate your home from sticker tyranny: If you have a kiddo in your life, you know that stickers can magically appear on just about every surface within their arm’s reach.
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026
Tax and labor reforms and a deregulation blitz have gone a long way to liberate entrepreneurs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 10, 2026
The more juice I can give the oxygenator, the more oxygen it'll liberate, and the longer I can go between those "air sols."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
"And then such an extreme event takes place, and in a way, liberates everything -- all the emotions, all the ideas and the passions, all the terrible things."
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
The shift liberates her holiday shopping, says Nussen, lead lighting designer at Consumer’s Lighting, a company she runs with her husband.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
More poignantly, it critiques how race, gender and genre have limited our ability to see her talent and, by doing so, liberates her from ever again having to prove her singular impact on American culture.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2023
Overall, “Corsage” shows a tantalizing way forward for the hopelessly staid biopic genre: honoring, provoking and upending with verve and humor as it liberates a complex woman from iconography’s deadening glamour.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2022
On reaching camp, after unloading, each muleteer takes away the five animals for which he is responsible, and liberates them, with the saddles on, to graze.
From Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, Volume I (of 2) Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird
Here, Madonna is liberated from Universal’s script notes or editing maneuvers, free from tweaking anyone’s performance to feel more like the real thing.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Now 77, Sandoval feels he was liberated by the power of jazz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
"I felt liberated when it was being shaved," she says.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
"MTI has been liberated and works freely... Topics and organisations previously banned have returned to our coverage. Propaganda has been pushed out," said an editor.
From Barron's ● May 30, 2026
Here at the hospital in the newly liberated zone, people scream in pain because they’re fighting to live.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
"It's quite liberating telling people, whether it's students or friends because most of the time people are just like 'oh, OK, fine'," says Cole, who is also autistic.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Each in his way was in the process of liberating himself from the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Deciding how many days you want to teach yoga or bartend, and how much consulting work you want to take on, can feel liberating — as though you’re the master of your own time.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
The realization, captured in “One Thing Right,” was both liberating and intimidating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
No big battle, no surrender, no foreign troops liberating them.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
