liquidate
verb /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/
/ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they liquidate | /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/ /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪt/ |
| he / she / it liquidates | /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪts/ /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪts/ |
| past simple liquidated | /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪd/ /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪd/ |
| past participle liquidated | /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪd/ /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form liquidating | /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪŋ/ /ˈlɪkwɪdeɪtɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] liquidate (something) to close a business and sell everything it owns in order to pay debtsTopics Businessc2
- [transitive] liquidate something (finance) to sell something in order to get money
- to liquidate assets
- [transitive] liquidate something (finance) to pay a debt
- They are having to sell off their equipment in order to liquidate their debts.
- [transitive] liquidate somebody/something (informal) to destroy or remove somebody/something that causes problems; to kill somebody synonym annihilate
- The government tried to liquidate the rebel movement and failed.
Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘set out (accounts) clearly’): from medieval Latin liquidat- ‘made clear’, from the verb liquidare, from Latin ‘liquidus’, from liquere ‘be liquid’. Senses (1) to (3) were influenced by Italian liquidare and French liquider, sense (4) by Russian likvidirovat.