release
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "release", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "release" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "release" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
release is aEnglishnoun. It means: The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms). Pronounced /ɹəˈliːs/. It ranks #856 in English word frequency. Often confused with reverse and released.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | release |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɹəˈliːs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #856 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for release is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹəˈliːs/. Corpus data places it at rank #856 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for release, with forms such as "erlease", "reelase", and "relaese". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "reverse", "released", "Reese", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher). Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is release, spelled R-E-L-E-A-S-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms).
- 2The distribution, either public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product.
- 3Anything recently released or made available (as for sale).
- 4That which is released, untied or let go.
- 5The giving up of a claim, especially a debt.
- 6Liberation from pain or suffering.
- 7The process by which a chemical substance is set free.
- 8The act or manner of ending a sound.
- 9In the block system, a printed card conveying information and instructions to be used at intermediate sidings without telegraphic stations.
- 10A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required.
- 11A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required.
- 12A device adapted to hold or release a device or mechanism as required.
- 13Orgasm.
- 14Discharged semen
- 15A kind of bridge used in jazz music.
Etymology
From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erlease,reelase,relaese,releaes,releasse,relesae,rellease,rleease,rrelease
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for release
Misspelling Variants of "release"
Frequency rank: #856 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter R in our English index: