unleash
English
Etymology
un- + leash
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʌnˈliʃ/
Audio (RP) (file)
- Rhymes: -iːʃ
Verb
unleash (third-person singular simple present unleashes, present participle unleashing, simple past and past participle unleashed)
- (transitive) To free from a leash, or as from a leash.
- Antonyms: leash, leash up
- He unleashed his dog in the park.
- (figurative) To let go; to release.
- He unleashed his fury.
- 2011 October 1, John Sinnott, “Aston Villa 2 - 0 Wigan”, in BBC Sport:
- 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.
- 2020 June 3, Andrew Mourant, “A safer railway in a greener habitat”, in Rail, page 58:
- 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.
- (figurative) To precipitate; to bring about.
- 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times:
- 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?
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Translations
to free from a leash
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to release
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to precipitate; to bring about
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Anagrams
- Hulsean, unheals, unshale