liberates

Verb

liberate (third-person singular simple present liberates, present participle liberating, simple past liberated, past participle liberated or (obsolete) liberate)

1. (transitive) Often followed by from: to allow or cause (someone or something) to be free; to set free, to release.
   • Thus ſitting and ſurveying thus at eaſe / The globe and its concerns, I ſeem advanced / To ſome ſecure and more than mortal height, / That lib'rates and exempts me from them all.1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 142
   1. (transitive) To free (someone or something) from discriminatory or oppressive attitudes, inhibition, or restraint.
      • You need to free your mind and liberate yourself from prejudice.
   2. (transitive) To release (someone) from slavery; to manumit.
   3. (ironic, sometimes, transitive) To free (a place such as a country, or the residents thereof) from an occupying force, or from oppression such as unjust rule.
      • All your Italian friends must be starving now that we have "liberated" them.1944 December 4 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “[Letter dated 4 December 1944]”, in To a Young Actress: The Letters of Bernard Shaw to Molly Tompkins: The Correspondence between Bernard Shaw...
   4. (transitive) To cause (energy or a substance) to be released through a chemical reaction or physical decomposition.
      • Since the reaction liberates a large amount of chlorine gas, a powerful ventilation system is recommended.
2. (euphemistic, informal, transitive) To take (property belonging to someone else) by force or theft; to loot, to rob, to steal.
   • We didn’t need IDs. We just liberated these beers from the back of the shop.

See all 10 meanings of liberate