Liberate

How to spell liberate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce liberate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does liberate mean?

1. verbTo set someone or something free from confinement, control, or restriction.

Liberate in a sentence

• The troops moved in to liberate the prisoners held in the camp.

• Selling the car would liberate a large sum of money for the move.

Where does liberate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin liber, meaning 'free' in the sense of a free person rather than a slave. From this adjective the Romans formed the verb liberare, 'to set free', and its past participle liberatus, which is the form English used to build the modern verb. The word entered English in the late 1500s, carrying the plain sense of releasing someone or something from confinement or control. The same liber root is hidden in a whole family of familiar words: 'liberty', 'liberal', and 'liberation', as well as 'deliver', which originally meant to free or release. Because the stressed first syllable is clear and the rest of the word follows the spelling exactly as it sounds, the main thing to remember is the single 'b' and the standard -ate ending shared with countless other Latin verbs.

How the word is built

• liber- (from Latin liber: free)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)