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discharge

/dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/verb, noun

discharge is spelled D-I-S-C-H-A-R-G-E: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, discharge means “To accomplish or complete, as an obligation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in discharge?

Letters9: D-I-S-C-H-A-R-G-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing8.5 times per million words; the 7,910th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is discharge?

Discharge appears 8.5 times per million words in written English, the 7,910th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce discharge?

  • UK /dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/
  • US /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/

As a noun (“The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital”): /dɪsˈtʃɑːdʒ/, /dɪsˈtʃɑɹdʒ/, /ˈdɪstʃɑːdʒ/.

Discharge has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-discharge_(verb).wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-discharge_(noun).wav, En-us-discharge.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with discharge?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as discharge from its last stressed vowel (/ɑɹdʒ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of discharge

  • discharges present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • discharging participle, present
  • discharged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does discharge mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To accomplish or complete, as an obligation.

    Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House

  2. 2

    To free of a debt, claim, obligation, responsibility, accusation, etc.; to absolve; to acquit; to forgive; to clear.

  3. 3

    To send away (a creditor) satisfied by payment; to pay one's debt or obligation to.

  4. 4

    To set aside; to annul; to dismiss.

  5. 5

    To expel or let go.

    Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions.

  6. 6

    To let fly, as a missile; to shoot.

  7. 7

    To release (an accumulated charge).

  8. 8

    To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss.

noun

  1. 1

    The act of releasing an inpatient from hospital.

    care transition after discharge

  2. 2

    The act of releasing a member of the armed forces from service.

    career transition after discharge

  3. 3

    The material thus released.

    Near-synonyms: effluent, effluence (sometimes synonymous)

  4. 4

    The act of firing a projectile, especially from a firearm.

    negligent discharge

  5. 5

    The process of removing the load borne by something.

  6. 6

    The process of flowing out.

  7. 7

    Pus or exudate or mucus (but in modern usage not exclusively blood) from a wound or orifice, usually due to pathological or hormonal changes.

    Near-synonyms: effluent, effluence (sometimes synonymous)

  8. 8

    The act of releasing an accumulated charge.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate discharge?

Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of discharge: ADT, d/c.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Discharge in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portuguesecumprir (to accomplish or complete, as an obligation), dispensar (to expel or let go), descarregar (electricity: to release an accumulated charge), dar alta (medicine: to release (an inpatient) from…), disparar (to operate (any weapon that fires a projectile…), cumprimento (act of accomplishing (an obligation))
Spanishdescharchar, descargar (to expel or let go), dar de alta, dar el alta (medicine: to release (an inpatient) from…), secreción (pus or exudate from a wound or orifice), liberación (act of expelling or letting go)
Germanentladen (electricity: to release an accumulated charge), entlassen (medicine: to release (an inpatient) from…), Ablauf (act of accomplishing (an obligation)), Befreiung (act of expelling or letting go), Entladung (act of releasing an accumulated charge), Entlassung (act of releasing an inpatient from hospital)
Frenchlicenciement (act of releasing a member of the armed forces…), débit (volume of water transported by a river in a…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does discharge come from?

From Middle English dischargen, from Old French deschargier (“to unload”), from Late Latin discarricāre (“unload”). By surface analysis, dis- + charge.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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