liberation
This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˌlɪb.əˈreɪ.ʃən/[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Middle English liberacion, borrowed from Old French libération and directly Latin līberātiō (“a setting or becoming free”),[2][3] from the past participle stem of līberō (“to set free”), from līber (“free”) (see liberal).[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The act of setting free from restraint or confinement: about 1440 in the OED, the early 15th century in Etymonline.[4][2]
Semantic evolution
In late 19th-century Britain, liberationism and liberationist referred to the movement to disestablish the Church, after the Liberation Society.[2] The struggle for equal rights for a group, as in women's liberation, is a 20th-century use.[5][6] Liberation theology (1969) translates Spanish teología de la liberación, coined in 1968 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez.[2]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- The act of setting free, or the state of being set free.
- The struggle for equal status or fair treatment for a group: women's liberation.
Word family
- liberationist
- nonliberation
- postliberation
- preliberation
- gay liberation
- liberation theology
- women's liberation
Related words
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin