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
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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
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to give liberty to; make free
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to release (something, esp a gas) from chemical combination during a chemical reaction
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to release from occupation or subjugation by a foreign power
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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)
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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
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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:
"It is really not a good idea, considering this would liberate very toxic elements from the seabed, as a lot of heavy metals are buried deep in the sediment," Currie said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
They can’t pretend that speeding through the breeze could liberate them from day-to-day life, and the singer asks, retrospectively, “Do you look forward to the past / Or forward to today?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 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
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
“I didn't see you liberate those at Mr. Rhydd’s.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
"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
“Sometimes I feel like a little girl — I play, I have fun and I laugh. Onstage, I say everything through rap. It liberates me: When I get a microphone, I’m a different person.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 27, 2023
Here is the real thing, where video liberates rather than imprisons all-enveloping music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
And all day long men pass in through the gateways, and become at once little, yet strangely significant in the vastness which incloses and liberates them.
From The Near East Dalmatia, Greece and Constantinople by Robert (Robert Smythe) Hichens
Like many Kuwaitis, Salem Al-Ghanem still vividly remembers Iraqi tanks rolling through his hometown when his small Gulf state faced extinction had US troops not liberated it from invasion.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
I pull on the hem of the vintage X-Files tee I liberated from my mom’s closet years ago.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
"I'd love to see artificial intelligence winning wars, liberating territories."
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
"We hope that it will happen as soon as possible and we hope that the cooling, liberating rain that the forecasters do not yet see coming will arrive."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 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
In his reports to the superintendent, Shin found himself telling a wonderfully liberating lie.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
