Dictionary

unleash en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ʌnˈliʃ/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntsder. Proto-Germanic *anda- Proto-West Germanic *anda- Old English and- Old English on- Middle English on- English un- English leash English unleash From un- + leash.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To free from a leash, or as from a leash.
   • He unleashed his dog in the park.
   • Somewhat unsurprisingly, unleashing the most powerful navy on the planet with carte blanche to exterminate slavers on sight saw a dramatic and sudden collapse in slaver numbers in the late 1840s and early 1850s. 2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 10:12 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2024:
2. (figuratively) To let go; to release.
   • As Bent pulled away to the far post, Agbonlahor opted to go it alone, motoring past Gary Caldwell before unleashing a shot into the roof of the net. 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport:
   • Storm Charlie had raged throught^([sic]) the night and was unleashing further gusts on the morning that RAIL was due to inspect a vegetation management project in Kent. Bit by bit, the train timetable unravelled. A trip beginning at Bradford-on-Avon belatedly reached Bath, but that turned out to be journey's end. 2020 June 3, Andrew Mourant, “A safer railway in a greener habitat”, in Rail, page 58:
   • In 1989, as communism was beginning to crumble across Eastern Europe, just a few months before protesters started pecking away at the Berlin Wall, the Japanese game-making giant Nintendo reached across the world to unleash upon America its own version of freedom. 2012 April 4, Sam Anderson, “Just One More Game ...”, in The New York Times Magazine:
   • He unleashed his fury.
   • It is the goneness of the Holocaust that produces the simultaneous profusion of discourses and understandings; the goneness is what opens up, what spurs, what unleashes the perpetual desire to do, to make, to rethink the Holocaust. 1999, Vivian Patraka, Spectacular Suffering: Theatre, Fascism, and the Holocaust:
3. (figuratively) To precipitate; to bring about.
   • People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days? 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in The New York Times:
   • Even if it were working perfectly, the stimulus would not come close to stemming the cascade of joblessness unleashed by this megarecession. 2009 July 11, Bob Herbert, “The Human Equation”, in The New York Times:

Forms

Antonyms

leash up · leash

Deriveds

unleashable · unleash Chiang · unleasher

Translations (49)

fr déchaîner (to free from a leash) · es libertar (to release) · la emitto (to release) · sh razobručiti (to free from a leash) · ca desencadenar (to release) · it scatenare (to release) · ru спуска́ть с при́вязи (to free from a leash) · sh odvezati (to free from a leash) · eo deŝnuri (to free from a leash) · de entfesseln (to precipitate; to bring about) · fi päästää irti (to free from a leash) · ca desfermar (to free from a leash) · cmn 釋放 /释放 (to free from a leash) · de freilassen (to free from a leash) · de freien Lauf lassen (to free from a leash) · nl ontketenen (to release) · pt desencadear (to release) · nl vrijlaten (to free from a leash) · de loslassen (to free from a leash) · de loslassen (to release) · ms lepas (to release) · pt soltar (to free from a leash) · de von der Leine lassen (to free from a leash) · bg пускам (to release) · de entfachen (to precipitate; to bring about) · it sguinzagliare (to free from a leash) · pl spuścić (to free from a leash) · de vom Zaun brechen (to precipitate; to bring about) · cmn 放開 /放开 (to free from a leash) · es desencadenar (to release) · es desencadenar (to precipitate; to bring about) · he הִתִּיר (to free from a leash) · fr soulever (to release) · de bewirken (to release) · fi laskea irti (to free from a leash) · es desatar (to free from a leash) · bg отпускам (to release) · pt separar (to free from a leash) · ru спусти́ть с при́вязи (to free from a leash) · la dimitto (to release) · ru вы́пустить (to release) · de freisetzen (to release) · ru выпуска́ть (to release) · bg развързвам (to free from a leash) · nl loslaten (to free from a leash) · ja 束縛を解く (to free from a leash) · sh pustiti s lanca (to free from a leash) · es libertar (to free from a leash) · fi päästää valloilleen (to free from a leash)