Etymologically
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liberate

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈlɪbəɹeɪt/, /ˈlɪbəɹet/[1]
  • US: /ˈlɪbəˌɹeɪt/, /ˈlɪbəˌɹet/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin līberātus, the past participle of līberō (“to set free”),[2][3][4][5][6] from līber (“free”),[2][3][7][8] the source of liberal.[3][4] Barnhart thinks it was in some cases a back-formation from the older liberation, recorded from probably before 1425.[4] The OED compares liberer, libérer.[2] The Latin verb is also the source of librar and livrer.[3] The Law French and Latin noun liberate, the name of a writ, from the Latin imperative "deliver!", is recorded in English from 1418,[2][9] and an adjective liberate, freed, from 1598.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To set free someone or something confined or in servitude: 1623, in Cockeram's English Dictionarie.[2][4][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1620s.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense of setting free, the verb developed several particular uses.[2] In chemistry and physics it meant releasing a gas or energy from a compound from 1789.[2][10] The OED dates freeing a region or its people from an oppressor or occupying force to 1781, in a letter of George Washington,[2] while Etymonline puts it in 1942, often used ironically.[3] From the irony of the Second World War "liberating forces", the military slang sense "to loot, steal" arose:[3][11] the OED's first record is from 1944,[2] and Green's Dictionary of Slang notes its revival in 1960s radical use.[11] Freeing people, especially women, from restrictive social conventions is recorded from 1806, in Maria Edgeworth.[2][10]

Timeline

  • 1418 – noun, a writ for payment.[2]
  • 1598 – adjective, freed (obsolete by 1828).[2][5]
  • 1623 – verb, to set free.[2][4]
  • 1781 – to free a region from an occupying force.[2]
  • 1789 – in chemistry, to release a gas from combination.[2]
  • 1806 – to free from restrictive social conventions.[2]
  • 1944 – military slang, to steal or loot.[2][11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To set free from restraint, captivity or bondage: The rebels liberated the prisoners.[5][10][2]
  2. To free (a country or people) from occupation or rule by a foreign power.[10][2][5]
  3. To free from social prejudice or injustice, or from restrictive conventions.[10][2]
  4. (chemistry) To release (a gas or energy) from combination during a reaction.[10][2]
  5. (informal, facetious) To steal or loot.[10][2][11]

Word family

  • liberatingly
  • liberator
  • liberatory
  • liberative
  • liberated
  • reliberate

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com