Core action
Set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
The resistance sought to liberate the occupied town.
/ˈlɪbəreɪt/ · LIB-uh-raytverb
Set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
Use liberate to express this relationship precisely: set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
Set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
The resistance sought to liberate the occupied town.
Use this expression in its normal grammatical frame so the relationship between the surrounding ideas remains explicit.
The reform liberated farmers from compulsory fees.
It tells the reader how to interpret the timing, scope, evidence, contrast, condition, or consequence in the statement.
Education can liberate people from limiting assumptions.
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The resistance sought to liberate the occupied town.
The reform liberated farmers from compulsory fees.
Education can liberate people from limiting assumptions.
Liberate overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
Means set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
Means keep people under harsh, unjust, or burdensome control.
Means set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
Means prevent, restrain, stop, or keep something from being expressed, revealed, or developing.
Means set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
Means regard or treat someone or something with profound respect, reverence, or devotion.
Means set someone or something free from imprisonment, oppression, control, or restriction.
Means the right or ability to govern, decide, or act independently without outside control.
It seeks to set them free from oppressive control.
The movement aimed to ___ workers from a system of forced labour.