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liberate

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 8 May 2026
A victory parade in front of the courthouse in Reims, Marne, France, on Victory in Europe Day, 8 May 1945, after the nation was liberated (etymology 1, verb 1 sense 1.3) from Nazi occupation.

Etymology 1

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Learned borrowing from Latin līberātus (“freed, liberated; absolved, acquitted; released”); see English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and used as the ending of participial adjectives and obsolete past participles from Latin). Līberātus is the perfect passive participle of līberō (“to free, liberate; to absolve, acquit; to release”), from līber (“free, unrestricted”),[1][2] + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs); and līberō is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léwdʰeros (“free”), from *h₁lewdʰ- (“to grow; people”) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional adjectival suffix) (*h₁léwdʰeros possibly originally meant ‘belonging to one’s own people’, excluding slaves who were captured from other groups of people, and thus later came to mean “free (not enslaved)”). Not related to deliberate.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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liberate (third-person singular simple present liberates, present participle liberating, simple past liberated, past participle liberated or (obsolete) liberate) (transitive)

  1. Often followed by from: to allow or cause (someone or something) to be free; to set free, to release.
    1. To free (someone or something) from discriminatory or oppressive attitudes, inhibition, or restraint.
      You need to free your mind and liberate yourself from prejudice.
      • 1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of Publick Debts”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book V (Of the Revenue of the Sovereign or Commonwealth), pages 568–569:
        The moſt ſanguine projector, hovvever, could ſcarce flatter himſelf that any augmentation of this kind [in the form of certain taxes] vvould be ſuch as could give any reaſonable hopes either of liberating the public revenue altogether, or even of making ſuch progress tovvards that liberation in time of peace, as either to prevent or to compenſate the further accumulation of the public debt in the next vvar.
      • 1806, [Maria] Edgeworth, “Letter XLI. Olivia to Madame de P——.”, in Leonora. […], volume I, London: […] [Joyce Gold] for J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 273:
        [A] little philosophy liberates our sex from the tyranny of custom, teaches us to disdain hypocrisy, and to glory in the simplicity of truth.
      • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LXVII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 482:
        They [the missionaries] liberated woman and made her the equal of man.
      • 1991 May 12 (first broadcast), Clive Exton, “Kidnapped!”, in Jeeves and Wooster, season 2, episode 5, spoken by Jeeves (Stephen Fry), New York, N.Y.: A & E Home Video, →ISBN:
        Jeeves: Foreign travel often liberates emotions best kept in check, sir. The air of North America is notoriously stimulating in this regard, as witness the regrettable behavior of its inhabitants in 1776. / Bertie Wooster: Hm? What happened in 1776, Jeeves? / Jeeves: I prefer not to dwell on it, if it's convenient to you, sir.
    2. To release (someone) from slavery; to manumit.
    4. (sometimes ironic) To free (a place such as a country, or the residents thereof) from an occupying force, or from oppression such as unjust rule.
      • 1944 December 4 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “[Letter dated 4 December 1944]”, in To a Young Actress: The Letters of Bernard Shaw to Molly Tompkins: The Correspondence between Bernard Shaw and an American Artist from 1921 through 1949, New York, N.Y.: Clarkson N. Potter, published 1960, →OCLC, page 181:
        All your Italian friends must be starving now that we have "liberated" them.
      • 1986, Jack Hemingway, chapter 14, in Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman: My Life with and without Papa, Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 163:
        I announced that I was leaving with the two-and-a-half filled with with all of the automatic weapons from both camps plus all the plastique explosive, related equipment, and the pistols. They were to be used, I explained, in parts of France where the war was still going on, by Frenchmen who were still fighting to liberate their country from the Germans.
    5. (chemistry, physics) To cause (energy or a substance) to be released through a chemical reaction or physical decomposition.
      Since the reaction liberates a large amount of chlorine gas, a powerful ventilation system is recommended.
  2. (originally military slang, euphemistic, informal) To take (property belonging to someone else) by force or theft; to loot, to rob, to steal.
    We didn’t need IDs. We just liberated these beers from the back of the shop.
    • 1969 June 18, Larry Clayton Powell, witness, “Testimony of Mrs. Jean Powell and Larry Clayton Powell”, in Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders: Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate, Ninety-first Congress, First Session: Pursuant to Senate Resolution 26, 91th Cengress […], part 19, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 3796:
      All members of the Black Guard must be willing to perform acts of violence before they are nominated. I had proven myself, when I was required to liberate (steal) dynamite, steal cars for robberies, and to perform disciplinary action against party members.
    • 1977, Collin Wilcox, chapter 14, in Doctor, Lawyer …, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, page 112:
      He was trying to liberate some funds for the revolution from a liquor store, and he got caught. It was his first time out, and he got flat-ass caught.
    • 1986, Jack Hemingway, chapter 13, in Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman: My Life with and without Papa, Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing Company, →ISBN, pages 157–158:
      For expedience, he intended to use his talents to liberate a few choice bottles from the wine cellars without going through the difficulty of a formal requisition.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of liberate
infinitive (to) liberate
present tense past tense
1st-person singular liberate liberated
2nd-person singular liberate, liberatest† liberated, liberatedst†
3rd-person singular liberates, liberateth† liberated
plural liberate
subjunctive liberate liberated
imperative liberate —
participles liberating liberated, liberate†

† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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liberate

  1. Obsolete form of liberated (past participle of liberate).

Adjective

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liberate (not comparable)

  1. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Freed, released; free.
    • 1637, [George Gillespie], “That the Ceremonies are Inexpedient, because They Burden and Confirme the Papists”, in A Dispvte against the English-popish Ceremonies, Obtrvded vpon the Church of Scotland. […], [Leiden, South Holland]: […] [W. Christiaens], →OCLC, section I, 2nd part (Against the Expediency of the Ceremonies), page 24:
      The Papiſts make advantage of the Ceremonies, and thereby confirme themſelves in Popery. […] If vve vvere liberate from the Ceremonies, then might vve doe more againſt the Papiſts, and they ſhould not inſult as they doe.
    • 1671, A Lover of Truth [pseudonym; Robert McWard], “The Third Dialogue Answered”, in The True Non-conformist: In Answere to the Modest and Free Conference betwixt a Conformist and a Non-conformist, about the Present Distempers of Scotland. […], [Amsterdam, South Holland?]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 125:
      [I]n place of eſtablishing true Chriſtian Liberty, vvhich you ſeem here to aſſert, it is evident, that you go about plainly to ſet up, an abſolute Spiritual tyranny, over the Church of God, and ſo load it vvith the Ceremonies, and innovations, a bondage more ſevere then the old diſpenſation, from vvhich vve are liberate; […]

Etymology 2

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From Late Middle English liberate (“warrant for payment of an allowance, debt, pension, etc.; warrant for delivery of property from a sheriff’s custody”, noun),[3] from Law French liberate, from Anglo-Norman liberate, and from their etymon Late Latin liberate (“name of such a writ”), a noun use of Latin līberāte (“deliver”) (commonly the first word of such writs),[4] the second-person plural present active imperative of līberō (“to free, liberate; to absolve, acquit; to release”): see further at etymology 1. Compare English allocate (“warrant for the payment of an allowance, debt, pension, etc.”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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liberate (plural liberates) (law, historical)

  2. (UK) A writ issued out of the Chancery to authorize the Exchequer to pay a debt, pension, etc., on behalf of the Crown.
    • 1581, William Lambard[e], “What Things, some Twoo Iustices of the Peace may Doe out of the Sessions”, in Eirenarcha: Or Of the Office of the Iustices of Peace, […], London: […] Ra[lph] Newbery, and H[enry] Bynneman, by the ass[igns] of Ri[chard] Tottel & Chr[istopher] Bar[ker], →OCLC, 1st booke (What Iustices of the Peace bee: And Why Called Iustices), page 264:
      Now (for an ende of Bailement) I will ſhewe you one forme of a Baile, and an other of a Liberate.
    • 1644, Edw[ard] Coke, “The Court of Exchequer”, in The Fourth Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for W[illiam] Lee, and D[aniel] Pakeman, →OCLC, page 116:
      A Liberate is an originall writ iſſuing out of the Chancery, and is directed to ſome Officers that have of the Kings mony in his hands to pay over a penſion, debt, or duty. […] [I]t appeareth that there be two kinds of writs of Liberate, one dormant or currant and continuall, and another hac vice [for this time] and particular. […] If the Officer have ſufficient in his hands to pay, ⁊c, at the time of the Liberate delivered to him, he is become debtor (by act of law) to the party, for which he may have an action of debt: but after the Liberate ſued out, and before the delivery, the king may diſcharge the Officer of the kings money in his hands.
  3. (UK) A writ issued to a jailer to release a prisoner on bail.
    • 1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Uncurable Breach betwixt the Eastern and Western Churches, with the Occasion thereof”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], →OCLC, book IV, page 174:
      VVith us they conſent in the Sufficiency of the Scriptures to ſalvation, in denying the Infallibility of the Church (much more of the Pope) the overplus of Merits, Service ununderſtood, Indulgencies, Liberaties out of Purgatorie, and the like.
      An extended use.
    • 1919, William C[harles] Braithwaite, “The Second Conventicle Act, 1670–1673”, in The Second Period of Quakerism, London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, page 84:
      For the more remote counties it was found sufficient to show the Patent to the under-sheriffs, when they came up to London to the Michaelmas law-term, and to prepare for their use a liberate, covering the prisoners in each gaol.
  4. (UK, US) A writ issued to a sheriff to release property (goods or land) from their custody.
    • 1719, John Lilly, “Bankrupt”, in The Practical Register: Or, A General Abridgment of the Law, as It is Now Practised in the Several Courts of Chancery, King’s Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer, […], 2nd edition, volume I, In the Savoy [London]: […] E[lizabeth] and R[ichard] Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of Edw[ard] Sayer, Esq.) for T. Ward and C. Wicksteed […], published 1735, →OCLC, page 286:
      Goods extended before the Party becomes a Bankrupt, and delivered by the liberate after he becomes a Bankrupt, can't be ſold by the Commiſſioners, becauſe they being extended are quaſi in Cuſtodia Legis [as if in the custody of the law], ſo as the Conuzor can't diſpoſe of them; and tho' by the Extent the Conuzor hath no abſolute Property till the Delivery upon the liberate, and at the Return of the VVrit he may refuſe them if over valued; yet that is for the Benefit of the Conuzee.
    • 1845 June, Samuel Prentiss, District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Vermont, “In the Matter of Timothy Reed, a Bankrupt”, in The New York Legal Observer, volume III, New York, N.Y.: Samuel Owen, →OCLC, page 265, column 1:
      [G]oods taken upon an extent sued out upon a statute staple, before the bankruptcy of the debtor, through the goods are not delivered to the creditor by the sheriff upon a liberate until after the bankruptcy, may be held by the creditor against the commissioners under the bankruptcy.
Derived terms
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Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “liberate, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025; “liberate, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “† liberate, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025.
  3. ^ “lī̆berātẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “liberate, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /li.beˈra.te/
  • Rhymes: -ate
  • Hyphenation: li‧be‧rà‧te

Verb

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liberate

  1. inflection of liberare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative
    2. second-person plural imperative

Participle

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liberate

  1. feminine plural of liberato

Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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līberāte

  1. second-person plural present active imperative of līberō

Participle

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līberāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of līberātus

Spanish

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Verb

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liberate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of liberar combined with te
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