liberate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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
Related Words
See release.
Other Word Forms
- liberative adjective
- liberator noun
- liberatory adjective
- preliberate verb (used with object)
- reliberate verb (used with object)
- unliberated adjective
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
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.
A new message of freedom and redemption, arguably the most liberating event in Western civilization for more than 1,000 years, was the result.
But Ms. Hopper finds “something liberating about bearing witness” to an artist so “unrepentant” about her own internal chaos.
Its purpose, he wrote, “was to liberate students through literacy.”
From Los Angeles Times
This pursuit of this truth makes him not only a liberating literary executor but also a worthy moral educator.
From Los Angeles Times
French president Emmanuel Macron stated, “We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.”
From Salon
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.
