1. Release from obligations or duties
   "The company discharged the employee from his contract";
   - free
    
2. Allow or require to leave (a patient from hospital, from police custody, etc.)
   "The doctor discharged the patient after a week of treatment"
    
3. Release from military service
   "The soldiers were discharged after the war ended";
   - muster out
    
4. Eliminate (a substance)
   "combustion products are discharged in the engine";
   - exhaust, expel, eject, release
    
5. Pour forth or release
   "discharge liquids"
    
6. Carry out, fulfil
   "discharge one's duties";
   - dispatch, complete, despatch [Brit]
    
7. Go off or discharge
   "The gun discharged";
   - fire, go off
    
8. Cause to go off
   "discharge a gun";
   - fire
    
9. Remove (cargo, people, etc.) from and leave
   "The taxi discharged its passengers at the airport";
   - drop, drop off, set down, put down, unload
    
10. Remove the charge from
    "He discharged the battery by leaving the headlights on overnight"
     
11. Become empty or void of its content
    "The battery discharged completely";
    - empty

1. The termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)
   "His sudden discharge came as a shock to the department";
   - dismissal, dismission [rare], firing, release, sack, sacking, severance, heave-ho [informal], the axe [informal], the boot [informal], the chop [Brit, informal], chuck [Brit, informal], termination [N. Amer]
    
2. The act of releasing gas, liquid etc.
   "The discharge of wastewater into the river was closely monitored"
    
3. A substance that is emitted or released
   "The factory's discharge polluted the nearby river";
   - emission
    
4. Any of several bodily processes by which substances go out of the body
   "the discharge of pus";
   - emission
    
5. The act of discharging a gun
   "The accidental discharge of the weapon caused panic";
   - firing, firing off
    
6. A formal written statement of relinquishment
   "He signed a discharge releasing the company from any liability";
   - release, waiver
    
7. Release from hospital, the police, etc.
   "She received her discharge papers from the hospital"
    
8. The pouring forth of a fluid
   "The discharge of water from the dam was carefully controlled";
   - outpouring, run
    
9. The sudden giving off of energy
   "The lightning discharge lit up the night sky"
    
10. Electrical conduction through a gas in an applied electric field
    "The welder used an electric discharge to join the metal pieces";
    - spark, arc, electric arc, electric discharge

Derived forms: discharged, discharges, discharging

Type of: accomplish, act, action, activity, bodily function, bodily process, body process, carry out, carry through, cause, change state, conclusion, deliver, distribute, electrical conduction, eliminate, emanation, emission, ending, execute, flow, flowing, fulfil [Brit, Cdn], fulfill [N. Amer], get, happening, have, induce, let go, let go of, make, material, move, natural event, obviate, occurrence, occurrent, release, relinquish, relinquishing, relinquishment, remove, rid of, shooting, shot, spread, stimulate, stuff, take, take away, termination, turn, withdraw

Antonym: charge, draft, fill

Encyclopedia: Discharge