liberate

Compared meaning: to set someone or something free (verb).

比较义项：使某人／某地摆脱束缚、控制或占领而获得自由（动词）。

• free

  General, everyday verb for releasing someone or something from confinement, restriction, or a burden; neutral register, used for people, animals, or abstract constraints.

  泛指使人、动物或抽象事物摆脱束缚、限制或负担的日常用词，语域中性。

  Rescuers worked for hours to free the trapped miners from the collapsed tunnel.

  救援人员花了几个小时才把被困矿工从坍塌的隧道中救出来。

• release

  Often formal or official: to let someone go from custody or detention, or to let an animal go back into the wild; also used for physically letting go.

  常用于正式／官方场合，指将某人从拘留、监禁中放出，或把动物放归野外，也可指身体上的松开、放开。

  The prison board voted to release him after five years for good behavior.

  监狱委员会投票决定因他表现良好而在五年后将他释放。

• liberate 本词

  Formal and often political or military: to free a country, city, or people from oppression or enemy occupation, implying a struggle.

  正式用词，常用于政治或军事语境，指将一个国家、城市或民族从压迫或敌军占领下解放出来，隐含经历斗争。

  Allied forces moved north to liberate the city from enemy occupation.

  盟军向北推进，将该城市从敌军占领中解放出来。

Free, release, and liberate all mean to set someone or something free, but formality differs. Free is the general, everyday word for ending confinement or a burden. Release often means letting someone go from custody. Liberate is formal and political, freeing a country from oppression.

这三个词在本义项中都表示使人或地方摆脱束缚、控制或占领而重获自由，但正式程度和典型语境不同：free 最通用，release 偏正式／官方放行，liberate 最正式且常用于政治、军事场合。这里不比较 free 的“免费的”形容词义、release 的“发布（唱片、消息等）”义，以及 liberate 非正式的“顺手拿走”义。