Liberator

American  

[lib-uh-rey-ter] / ˈlɪb əˌreɪ tər /

noun

1. a four-engined heavy bomber widely used over Europe and the Mediterranean by the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. B-24

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Etymology

Origin of Liberator

< Latin līberātor, equivalent to līberā ( re ) to liberate + -tor -tor

Explanation

A liberator is someone who sets people free from captivity. Abolitionists were liberators who fought to free African-American slaves from bondage in the years before the Civil War. Both liberator and liberty derive from the Latin liberare meaning "to set free." A liberator is someone who provides liberty, or freedom, to people held captive or repressed. At the end of the Holocaust, allied forces entered Germany and Poland, acting as liberators for millions of Jews held in concentration camps during World War II.

Example Sentences

On Sept. 11, 1942, Hirsch, age 24, and nine other soldiers stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tuscon were in a B-24 Liberator on the return leg of a training flight to Nebraska.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2025

In a letter to a friend that was published in 1858 in The Liberator, Harper recounted what happened next: “I did not move, but kept the same seat.”

From New York Times • Feb. 7, 2023

But there wasn’t much talk about abolitionism, or Forten’s old friends, like Absalom Jones, founder of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, or William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator newspaper.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 13, 2022

Mr. Billings deployed to Italy in August 1944, tasked with flying the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber that he jokingly referred to as “the pregnant pig.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 8, 2022

Angelina wrote a series of letters about women’s role in society that were published in the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

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