liquidate

Meaning

Verb

1. (archaic, rare, transitive) Synonym of liquefy (“to make (something) into a liquid”); to liquidize.
2. (figuratively, transitive) To make (a sound) less harsh.
3. (figuratively, transitive) To use up (money or other assets) wastefully; to dissipate, to squander, to waste.
4. (figuratively, informal, transitive) 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.
5. (figuratively, transitive) To convert (assets) into cash; to encash, to realize, to redeem.
6. (figuratively, transitive) To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount; to pay off.
7. (figuratively, transitive) 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.
8. (obsolete, transitive) To make (something) clear and intelligible.
9. (obsolete, transitive) To make (something) clear and intelligible.
10. (obsolete, transitive) To make (something) clear and intelligible.
11. (intransitive) Of a corporation, partnership, or other business: to settle financial affairs with the aim of ceasing operations; to go into liquidation, to wind up.

Adj

Of an amount of money: ascertained, determined, fixed.

Opposite of

destroy

Synonyms

slay

kill

🔪🩸👤

wind up

waste

pay off

knock off

disband

get rid of

eliminate

murder

slaughter

cancel

dispatch

do in

remove

neutralise

eradicate

repay

neutralize

drop

do away with

dissipate

wipe out

back out

cut off

assuage

acquit

defeat

demolish

depress

cross out

cover

assassinate

correct

clear off

appease

abrogate

abate

clear

dissolve

chop

annul

dispose of

dispense with

calm

down

annihilate

abort

enervate

dismount

Translations

liquider

liquidar

liquidieren

liquidar

liquideren

liquidare

liquidar

opheffen

εκκαθαρίζω

supprimer

afwikkelen

ammazzare

🔪🩸👤

necare

uccidere

🔪🩸👤

occidere

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlɪkwədeɪt/

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.
Sense 1.2.3 (“to kill; to abolish or eliminate”) is a semantic loan from Russian ликвиди́ровать (likvidírovatʹ); while sense 1.2.4 and sense 2 (business-related senses) were influenced by French liquider and Italian liquidare, all ultimately from Latin liquidus (see above).