liquidate
verb
Simple meaning
Settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
lihkwihdaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off
transitivefigurative
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.
transitivefigurative
To settle (a debt) by paying the outstanding amount; to pay off.
transitivefigurative
To convert (assets) into cash; to encash, to realize, to redeem.
“I had to liquidate my holdings to pay off my ex-husband.”
transitivefigurative
To use up (money or other assets) wastefully; to dissipate, to squander, to waste.
transitivefigurative
(informal) 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.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Settle the affairs of by determining the debts and applying the assets to pay them off
Used this way, liquidate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use liquidate
- “I had to liquidate my holdings to pay off my ex-husband.”verb
- “The mafia liquidated the informer.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being).
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.