Unleashed

How to spell unleashed

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce unleashed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unleashed mean?

1. verbReleased or set free a force, energy, or reaction that was previously held back.

Unleashed in a sentence

• The budget cuts unleashed a wave of public anger.

• The new advertising campaign unleashed a flood of online orders.

Where does unleashed come from?

Language of origin: French

The core of this word is 'leash', which came into English in the 1300s from Old French 'lesse' or 'laisse', the cord used to hold and lead a dog. That noun grew out of the verb 'laissier', meaning 'to let go' or 'to release', which traces all the way back to Latin 'laxare', 'to loosen or slacken', built on 'laxus', meaning 'loose' or 'slack'. The very same Latin root quietly survives in the everyday words 'lax', 'relax', and 'release', all of which share the idea of loosening something tight. The prefix 'un-' is a native Germanic element signalling reversal or undoing, so 'unleash' literally means to undo the leash and let something loose, and it appears in English from the 1600s. The past form adds the ordinary '-ed' ending, and the only real spelling trap is the 'ea' digraph in the middle, since the sound gives no hint of the silent arrangement of those two vowels.

How the word is built

• un- (reverse, undo)
• leash (a cord for restraining a dog)
• -ed (past tense/participle)