What does "liquidate" mean?
Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize.
Liquidate
/ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/ adj, verb, slang
adj, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize.
- Grammar: liquidate is listed as adj, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abolish, abstract, amortize, annihilate.
- Useful contrasts: incorporating, continue operations, incorporated.
- Usage evidence: Shareholders voted to liquidate the company's assets.
How to use "liquidate"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "liquidate" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "liquidate" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "liquidate" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "liquidate" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "liquidate" is acting as adj, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abolish" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "liquidate", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Verb
- 1 Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize. archaic, rare, transitive
"The Para rubber is of very fine quality, […] whilst the Ceara, a very inferior quality, often passes through a species of decomposition before arriving in this country, the heat of the ship's hold being sufficient to partially liquidate its substance."
- 2 get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing wordnet
- 3 To make (a sound) less harsh. figuratively, transitive
- 4 settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off wordnet
- 5 To use up (money or other assets) wastefully; to dissipate, to squander, to waste. figuratively, transitive
"A Drunkard is a Creature God ne're made, / The Species Man, the Nature retrograde, / […] / Thoſe damn themſelves to heap an ill-got Store, / Theſe liquidate their VVealth, and covet to be poor."
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 convert into cash wordnet
- 7 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
"State farms in Southern Russia, in the Caucasus and in Siberia, have proved a failure, and a change in policy has been in progress. […] Now the State farms are being liquidated. Several hundred have been broken up and 4,000,000 acres of land distributed among the collective farms. A Riga correspondent says that the collective farmers must pay for the stock, implements, machinery and buildings for which the State allows a few years' credit, "but apparently the land itself is received gratis with the laborers hitherto employed on it, who become additional shareholders of the collective farms to which they are allotted.""
- 8 eliminate by paying off (debts) wordnet
- 9 To convert (assets) into cash; to encash, to realize, to redeem. figuratively, transitive
"How far progress has been made in liquidating the locomotive stock of the old companies may be judged from the shrinkage in their numbers, by some 50 per cent. at the end of 1931, to about 35 per cent. in 1938."
- 10 To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount; to pay off. figuratively, transitive
"The excess of the former amount over the latter constitutes of course a debt due by this Company to the banking company, the settlement of which has engaged the earnest attention of the Board. Their wish was to liquidate that amount by the proceeds of sales of property; but the unfavourable state of the colony has prevented their doing more than effecting a reduction of the debt by a payment to account."
- 11 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
- 12 To make (something) clear and intelligible. obsolete, transitive
"[T]he King vvas obliged to qualify his grant, by eſtabliſhing betvveen the contending parties a rotation of ſeniority, each to take place alternately for a year, the ſurvivor to precede for his life the heir of the other, and ſo in perpetuum. A ſenſeleſs jumble, ſoon liquidated by a more egregious act of folly, the King vvith his ovvn hand crovvning the young Duke of VVarvvick King of the Iſle of VVight— […]"
- 13 To make (something) clear and intelligible.; To resolve or settle (differences, disputes, etc.). obsolete, transitive
"[R]eturn to thy maſter, and tell him, e'er vve liquidate our differences by the ſvvord, Manfred vvould hold ſome converſe vvith him."
- 14 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
"All theſe Diſadvantages, vvith many others, vve vvere forced to lay before Sir Richard Steele, and farther to remonſtrate to him, that as he novv ſtood in [William] Collier’s Place, his Penſion of 700l. vvas liable to the ſame Conditions, that Collier had receiv’d it upon; vvhich vvere, that it ſhould be only payable during our being the only Company permitted to act, but in caſe another ſhould be ſet up againſt us, that then this Penſion vvas to be liquidated into an equal Share vvith us; and vvhich vve novv hoped he vvould be contented vvith."
- 15 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."
Adjective
- 1 Of an amount of money: ascertained, determined, fixed. archaic, not-comparable, obsolete, rare
"I A. B. [here name and design the Granter] grant me to have instantly borrowed and received C. D. [here name and design the Creditor] the Sum of [insert the Sum] Sterling; which Sum I bind myself and my Heirs, Executors, and Representatives whomsoever, without the Necessity of discussing them in their Order, to repay […] with a Fifth Part more of liquidate Penalty in case of Failure, […]"
Antonyms
Example
"Shareholders voted to liquidate the company's assets."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "liquidate"?
Common synonyms include: abolish, abstract, amortize, annihilate, assassinate, auctions.
How do you use "liquidate" in a sentence?
Shareholders voted to liquidate the company's assets.
How do you pronounce "liquidate"?
Pronounced /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/.
Etymology
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).