Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control.
  • transitive verb Chemistry To release (a gas, for example) from combination.
  • transitive verb Slang To obtain by illegal or stealthy action.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In old English law, a writ issued out of Chancery for the payment of pensions and similar royal allowances; also, a writ issued to the sheriff for the delivery of land and goods taken upon forfeits of recognizance.
  • To set free; release from restraint or bondage; deliver: as, to liberate a slave or a prisoner; to liberate the mind from the shackles of prejudice.
  • To disengage; separate from something else: as, to liberate a gas from a solid.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To release from restraint or bondage; to set at liberty; to free; to manumit; to disengage

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To free; to release from restraint or bondage; to set at liberty; to manumit; to disengage.
  • verb transitive, euphemistic To steal or abscond with (something).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb grant freedom to
  • verb release (gas or energy) as a result of a chemical reaction or physical decomposition
  • verb grant freedom to; free from confinement
  • verb give equal rights to; of women and minorities

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin līberāre, līberāt-, from līber, free; see leudh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin liberatus, past participle of liberare ("to set free, deliver"), from liber ("free"); see liberal.

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Examples

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  • LibEraTe

    September 6, 2010