UNLEASHED Synonyms: 105 Similar and Opposite Words

unleashed 1 of 2

adjective

as in escaped

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unleashed

2 of 2

verb

past tense of unleash

as in loosened

to set free (from a state of being held in check) unleashed all of his unspoken love for her in a long letter that he hoped he would have the courage to mail

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in released

to find emotional release for lifting weights is a way for me to unleash all the frustrations of the workday

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of unleashed

Adjective

In 1995, the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three US servicemen unleashed outrage and mass protests in Okinawa. — Junko Ogura, CNN Money, 4 Oct. 2026 Rescuers are still searching for more than 5,000 people missing in the border region with China after August’s glacier collapse unleashed landslides and a flash flood that tore through valleys. — Reuters, NBC news, 2 Oct. 2026 Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon would blast off first, followed by Orion -- which would close in for a linkup -- and then Musk's Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is unleashed. — Arkansas Online, 29 Sep. 2026 Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will blast off first, then Orion — which will close in for a linkup — then Musk’s Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is unleashed. — Marcia Dunn, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2026 Former Seattle Seahawks and 11-year NFL veteran Richard Sherman, not exactly known to be soft with his thoughts and feelings about anything, unleashed on the Cowboys defense. — Mac Engel september 14, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Sep. 2026 But Rooney was finally unleashed for a Champions League group game against Fenerbahce at Old Trafford, scoring a spectacular hat-trick, all three (the third an exquisite free kick) struck from outside the penalty area. — Amitai Winehouse, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026 The film tells the story of a biological weapon being unleashed inside a Seoul skyscraper that turns the people trapped inside the building into a deadly zombie hive mind. — Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 1 Sep. 2026 The San Francisco Ballet production, which debuted in 2024, retells the myth of Pandora, who opened the box that unleashed humanity’s evil into the world. — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 28 Aug. 2026

Verb

The rise of prediction markets has unleashed a flurry of lawsuits from Native American tribes across the United States. — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2026 The violence unleashed there had motivated her to take on a new mission – making Juneteenth a national holiday. — Briauna Brown, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 Advertisement As protests intensified, state media unleashed a frenzied smear campaign, casting Egyptian protesters as foreign agents and outside agitators. — Abdelrahman Elgendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026 Investigators recovered 114 spent shell casings along the K Street Mall after the shooting, according to court records, evidence of the sheer volume of gunfire unleashed within seconds. — Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 3 Oct. 2026 White unleashed one of the most blistering postgame attacks on WNBA officiating of the Clark era. — Jackson Thompson Outkick, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2026 Years of climate abuse, of reckless drilling at the ends of the earth, have unleashed a wave of methane, which in terms of environmental destruction makes carbon dioxide look like laughing gas. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 29 Sep. 2026 By owning the global crisis unleashed by oil billionaires and a complicit government, Digger causes an uproar. — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026 The Encore has unleashed more questions about Swift’s next chapter rather than offer a clear path forward. — Maya Georgi, Rolling Stone, 28 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unleashed

Adjective

Miami Beach police have taken an escaped prisoner into custody after a search near Mount Sinai Medical Center Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

— Sergio Candido, CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026
But these stats reflect firefighting progress at this stage rather than an escaped blaze, the department's public affairs officer Tiffany Davilla explained.

— Joan Meiners, AZCentral.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of escaped

Verb

Traditional suiting is loosened with oversized silhouettes, fluid fabrications and styling that is elevated, but never too formal.

— Emma Spedding, Vogue, 12 Oct. 2026
Over time these requirements loosened, and in 2025 the FDA ended mandatory blood testing in conjunction with clozapine use.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of loosened

Adjective

Barber argued that unfettered capitalism and the backlash to it, which was increasingly expressed through forms of fundamentalist extremism, although in contest with each other, were both a danger to democracies.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026
Anyone who wants to watch, from the press to advocates to families to just causal observers, must have that unfettered ability.

— New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of unfettered

Verb

Amazon's Big Deal Days are officially here, and these unlocked smartphone discounts are too good to miss.

— Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 Oct. 2026
One is reminded of Toni Morrison, whose refusal to pander to the dominant gaze — whose insistence on writing about Black characters without regard for whoever else might be reading — unlocked its own kind of universality.

— Sam Worley, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of unlocked

Adjective

There is a minute’s ovation for Keegan, who was chief operations officer and then manager at Craven Cottage in the late 1990s, there is an unchained melody of bedlam, the creation of chaos and there are a lot of c***s.

— George Caulkin, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Often the raconteur side is too unchained.

— Jed Gottlieb, Boston Herald, 25 May 2026

Definition of unchained

Verb

Michael Conforto dumped a full beer down the back of an unsuspecting Carson Kelly while across the room Shota Imanaga threw his head back, opened his arms and let out a yell as assistant hitting coach Juan Cabreja uncorked the champagne.

— Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026
Seeing single-high coverage, Mahomes uncorked a ball deep down the field to wide receiver Tyquan Thornton for 45 yards — his longest completion since mid-November.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of uncorked

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unleashed

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“Unleashed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unleashed. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of unleashed

adjective

verb

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