free、liberate、release与discharge这些动词均含“解放、释放”之意。
free : 指不再受任何限制、约束、阻碍和压迫，完全可按自己的意志行事。
- After a ten-hour siege the gunman agreed to free the hostages.
经过10个小时的围困，持枪歹徒同意释放人质。 - Anti-vivisectionists last night freed a number of animals from a laboratory.
反对活体解剖的人昨晚放走了实验室里的很多动物。
liberate : 常指从束缚和压迫中解放出来，强调获得最终的解放，有时可和free换用。
- They said they sent troops in to liberate the people/the country from a dictator.
他们称他们向该国派出军队是要把那里的人民／那个国家从独裁者手中解放出来。
release : 侧重指放松限制、解除监禁或免除义务。
- He was released from prison after serving two years of a five-year sentence.
他被判5年徒刑，但是服刑两年后就被释放出狱了。 - She was arrested for shoplifting but was released on bail (= after paying a sum of money to the court).
她因为在商店行窃而被捕，但是在交纳保释金后就被释放了。 - The surgery released him from years of pain.
手术使他摆脱了多年的病痛。
discharge : 强调把某人或某物从监禁、束缚中释放出来。
- Patients were discharged from the hospital because the beds were needed by other people.
由于其他人需要床位，患者们便被允许出院了。 - More than half of all prisoners discharged are reconvicted within two years.
在获释的犯人中有一半多在两年内又被再次判刑。 - A peace protester was conditionally discharged for twelve months (= allowed to go free only if they do not commit a crime again for this period of time).
一个和平抗议者被有条件假释12个月。
