LIQUIDATE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does liquidate mean? 

• LIQUIDATE (verb)
  The verb LIQUIDATE has 4 senses:

1. get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

2. eliminate by paying off (debts)

3. convert into cash

4. settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off

  Familiarity information: LIQUIDATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIQUIDATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they liquidate    ... he / she / it liquidates   
Past simple: liquidated   
Past participle: liquidated   
-ing form: liquidating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

do in; knock off; liquidate; neutralise; neutralize; waste

Context example:

the double agent was neutralized

Hypernyms (to "liquidate" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to liquidate the prisoners

Derivation:

liquidation (the murder of a competitor)

liquidator (a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Eliminate by paying off (debts)

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

liquidate; pay off

Hypernyms (to "liquidate" is one way to...):

ante up; pay; pay up (cancel or discharge a debt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "liquidate"):

lift (pay off (a mortgage))

amortise; amortize (liquidate gradually)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

liquidation (termination of a business operation by using its assets to discharge its liabilities)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Convert into cash

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

I had to liquidate my holdings to pay off my ex-husband

Hypernyms (to "liquidate" is one way to...):

cash; cash in (exchange for cash)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

liquidate a company

Hypernyms (to "liquidate" is one way to...):

settle (dispose of; make a financial settlement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Suffice it to observe, that it was a masterpiece of eloquence; and that those passages in which he more particularly traced his own successful career to its source, and warned the younger portion of his auditory from the shoals of ever incurring pecuniary liabilities which they were unable to liquidate, brought a tear into the manliest eye present.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)