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lib·er·ate
liberate
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- pronunciation:
- lI
b
reIt
- features:
- Word Combinations (verb), Word Parts
part of speech: |
transitive verb |
inflections: |
liberates, liberating, liberated |
definition 1: |
to free or release, esp. from bondage, oppression, or captivity.
Troops liberated the prisoners in the camps at the war's end.She felt constrained at home, but going back to school liberated her.After we'd each caught several lightning bugs in our jars, we liberated them all at once.- synonyms:
- deliver, emancipate, enfranchise, free, manumit, release, spring, unfetter
- antonyms:
- enslave, imprison, seize, subjugate, take
- similar words:
- acquit, amnesty, extricate, loose, ransom, relieve, rescue, untie, unyoke
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definition 2: |
(informal) to steal or loot, esp. in wartime.
Some of the guys liberated the wine cellar of the old hotel.- synonyms:
- appropriate, loot, plunder, snatch
- similar words:
- lift, pilfer, pillage, pocket, raid, snitch
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related words: |
absolve, deliver, discharge, pardon, redeem, rid, save, spare, spring, steal |
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derivations: |
liberation (n.), liberator (n.) |
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