liberare

Liberare is a Latin verb of the first conjugation meaning “to free, liberate, release.” It denotes the act of setting someone or something free from confinement, oppression, or burden. In classical usage it is transitive and takes a direct object in the accusative; it can be followed by phrases in the ablative to indicate the source or removal from a condition (for example ab hostibus, de metu).

In addition to freeing a person or group, liberare can be used more figuratively, for instance to free a city from siege, or to release the mind from fear or superstition. The verb often appears with military, political, or moral senses, and it can be combined with various modifiers to express scope, duration, or degree of freedom.

Conjugation and principal parts: liberare, liberavi, liberatum are the common principal parts, with the present active indicative forms such as libero, liberas, liberat, liberamus, liberatis, liberant. The imperfect is liberabam, liberabas, liberabat, liberabamus, liberabatis, liberabant; future is liberabo, liberabis, liberabit, liberabimus, liberabitis, liberabunt. The perfect active is liberavi, liberavisti, liberavit, liberavimus, liberavistis, liberaverunt; the supine is liberatum. Passive forms are built from these on the same roots.

Etymology and cognates: liberare derives from Latin liber “free.” It has numerous descendants in the Romance languages, including Italian liberare, Spanish liberar, French libérer, Portuguese libertar, and Romanian elibera. The term remains common in scholarly Latin and in religious, legal, and historical texts.

See also: Latin grammar, Romance languages, liberation.