Thursday, May 8, 2014

liberation, libration

Liberation or liberation  means freedom; being released or set free--
The Americans who joined the army in WWII were willing to fight for the liberation of Europe.
 She made speeches about women's liberation in the 1970's, but now she is quite conservative.

Libration or libration means a real or apparent waving motion or oscillation, as of the moon--
He wrote a scientific treatise on the libration of the moon.
The astronomer was sure that he detected libration in one of the moons of Jupiter.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"He worries that the libration of the moon could cause its liberation from Earth's gravity."

Note--not to be confused with "libation", meaning a drink, or an offering of drink, to the gods--
The ancient Greeks spilled a little wine on the ground before drinking it, as a libation.

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