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
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liberatesimple
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liberatessimple
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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
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has been liberatingperfect progressive
Past
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liberatedsimple
-
had liberatedperfect
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was liberatingprogressive
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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:
Miller describes the UK as "more than a political arrangement", saying each helped to develop industries, abolish the slave trade, liberate Europe, and shape the modern world.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
It’s Morello half-speaking, half-singing against a gentle piano melody that emotionally underscores the song’s message of quiet defiance: “Maybe you can save me/Maybe you can’t/Maybe you can liberate me/Nah, I’ll take care of that.”
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2026
After days of searching shelters and morgues, many Nepali families held symbolic funeral ceremonies on Tuesday to "liberate the souls" of loved ones missing since the deadly flash floods last week.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
In 2020, DirecTV and AT&T struck a deal with Charter, not so much to liberate Dodgers fans as to help the parties maintain a shrinking base of subscribers amid a proliferation of video options.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
If I groped about in the dark long enough, I might manage eventually to break into the book keeper's trunk and liberate the script.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
"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
Liberā′tion; Liberā′tionist, one who is in favour of church disestablishment; Lib′erātor, one who liberates or frees.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
But Milton liberated Satan by sending him to Hell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The operation would continue, he said, “until the country is liberated from the control of terrorist militias.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Krasner’s small, tight accretions of repetitive marks and shapes seem airless and uninflected; even the densest of Pollock’s early, layered pours pulse and breathe, his touch liberated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Eventually they were liberated by American troops and Hay returned to the UK, via Reims, on 4 May 1945.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
They say that he liberated us from foreign domination and gave us independence.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
But what felt humiliating in the moment became liberating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
"I'd love to see artificial intelligence winning wars, liberating territories."
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
It was nerve-racking for her to get on stage, in front of friends and family members and talk about her struggles with mental health but it was also liberating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 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
Grandpa Louis died four years after he’d come home from liberating Italy along with the all-black army, according to Big Ma.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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.
