overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

liquidate.

Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɪkwəˌdeɪt/General-American
  1. Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize.

    archaic · rare · transitive
  2. To make (a sound) less harsh.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To use up (money or other assets) wastefully; to dissipate, to squander, to waste.

    figuratively · transitive
  4. To kill (someone), usually violently, and especially for some ideological or political aim; to assassinate, to murder; also, to abolish or eliminate (something); to do away with, to put an end to.

    figuratively · informal · transitive
  5. To convert (assets) into cash; to encash, to realize, to redeem.

    figuratively · transitive
  6. To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount; to pay off.

    figuratively · transitive
  7. To settle the financial affairs of (a corporation, partnership, or other business) with the aim of ceasing operations, by determining liabilities, using assets to pay debts, and apportioning the remaining assets if any; to wind up.

    figuratively · transitive
  8. To make (something) clear and intelligible.

    obsolete · transitive
  9. To make (something) clear and intelligible. To resolve or settle (differences, disputes, etc.).

    obsolete · transitive
  10. To make (something) clear and intelligible. To ascertain (an amount of money), especially by agreement or through litigation; also, to set out (financial accounts) properly.

    obsolete · transitive
  11. Of a corporation, partnership, or other business: to settle financial affairs with the aim of ceasing operations; to go into liquidation, to wind up.

    intransitive
    COVID-19 hit the company hard—I foresee it will liquidate within a year.
Where this word comes from

Learned borrowing from Late Latin liquidātus (“liquid; clear”, adjective) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and forming adjectives with the sense ‘characterized by [the specified things]’). Liquidātus is the perfect passive participle of liquidō (“to turn into a liquid, melt; to make clear”), from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid; clear, transparent”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs); while liquidus is from liqueō (“to be fluid or liquid; to be clear or transparent”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wleykʷ- (“to make wet; moist”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, liquid (adjective) + -ate. Verb sense 1.2.3 (“to kill; to abolish or eliminate”) is a semantic loan from Russian ликвиди́ровать (likvidírovatʹ); while verb sense 1.2.4 and verb sense 2 (business-related senses) were influenced by French liquider and Italian liquidare, all ultimately from Latin liquidus (see above).

adj/ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈlɪkwəˌdeɪt/General-American
  1. Of an amount of money: ascertained, determined, fixed.

    archaic · not-comparable · obsolete · rare
Where this word comes from

Learned borrowing from Late Latin liquidātus (“liquid; clear”, adjective) + English -ate (suffix forming verbs, and forming adjectives with the sense ‘characterized by [the specified things]’). Liquidātus is the perfect passive participle of liquidō (“to turn into a liquid, melt; to make clear”), from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid; clear, transparent”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs); while liquidus is from liqueō (“to be fluid or liquid; to be clear or transparent”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wleykʷ- (“to make wet; moist”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, liquid (adjective) + -ate. Verb sense 1.2.3 (“to kill; to abolish or eliminate”) is a semantic loan from Russian ликвиди́ровать (likvidírovatʹ); while verb sense 1.2.4 and verb sense 2 (business-related senses) were influenced by French liquider and Italian liquidare, all ultimately from Latin liquidus (see above).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

liquidate has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

liquidate studioliquidate workshello, liquidate

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.