lib·er·ate [ líbbə ràyt ](past and past participlelib·er·at·ed, present participlelib·er·at·ing, 3rd person present singularlib·er·ates)
transitive verb
Definition:
1. set somebody free physically: to release a person, group, population, or country from political or military control or from severe physical constraint
2. release somebody from social constraints: to set somebody free from traditional socially imposed constraints such as those arising from stereotyping by gender or age
3. steal something: to take unlawfully something that belongs to somebody else
(
slang
)
4. chemistry release gas during chemical reaction: to free something such as a gas from combination in a chemical compound during a chemical reaction
[Late 16th century. < Latin liberat-, past participle of liberare< liber "free"]
