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liberal

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Liberal, liberał, liberál, and libéral

English

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Etymology

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The adjective is from Old French liberal, from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”); it is attested since the 14th century. The noun is first attested in the 1800s.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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liberal (comparative more liberal, superlative most liberal)

  1. Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
    Synonyms: charitable, frolic, munificent; see also Thesaurus:generous
    Antonym: authoritarian
    He was liberal with his compliments.
    • 1899, J. M. Baltimore, “Pacific Coast Light Service”, in Overland Monthly, volume 33:
      Indeed, the Government has been very liberal in the expenditure of public money
    • 2005, John Gardner, Assessment and Learning, →ISBN, page 50:
      When he shows improvement she is liberal with her praise and then moves on to the next set of skills to be learnt.
    • 2007, Helena Page Schrader, The English Templar, →ISBN, page 309:
      Queen Isabella was already being called Santa Isabella by many of her subjects because she was liberal with her alms.
    • 2010, Simon Guillebaud, More Than Conquerors: A Call to Radical Discipleship, →ISBN, page 142:
      Was it because the believers were so liberal with their possessions that God was so liberal with his grace?
    • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
      Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
  2. Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
    Synonyms: good-sized, hefty, prodigious; see also Thesaurus:large
    Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
    • 1896, Ice and refrigeration, volume 11, page 93:
      For this reason a liberal amount of piping should be used. If a liberal supply of piping is provided at first, the first cost will of course be greater, but the extra expenditure is called for but once.
    • 2009, R. Furman Kenney, Chesterville: The Village at the End of the Road, →ISBN, page 102:
      The result was usually that such helpers got a liberal sprinkling of mud over their clothing.
    • 2011, Marlene Perez, Dead Is Not an Option, →ISBN, page 37:
      Rose put a steaming cup of mint tea in front of me and spooned a liberal helping of honey into it.
  3. Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
    Synonyms: broad-minded, open-minded, tolerant; see also Thesaurus:permissive
    Antonyms: close-minded, conservative
    Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
  4. (obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
    Synonyms: easy, free, lustful; see also Thesaurus:promiscuous
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
      Myself, my brother, and this grieved count,
      Did see her, hear her, at that hour last night,
      Talk with a ruffian at her chamber-window;
      Who hath indeed, most like a liberal villain,
      Confess'd the vile encounters they have had
      A thousand times in secret.
  5. (education): Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is personal development rather than functional learning.
    1. Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is to cultivate and develop wise, capable and well-rounded people who are thus free of mental constraint and hindrance.
      • 2008, Donal G. Mulcahy, The Educated Person: Toward a New Paradigm for Liberal Education, →ISBN:
      • 1997, Gordon D. Morgan, Toward an American Sociology: Questioning the European Construct, →ISBN, page 45:
        Americans remain enamored with Europe's ability to produce the consequential thought for America. It was the same in nearly every liberal field. Education sought its roots in such Europeans as Froebel, Frobenius, and Rousseau. Political science tried to connect to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, and Otto von Bismarck, for instance. Economics copied the thought of Adam Smith, […]
    2. (now rare outside set phrases) Pertaining to those arts and sciences the study of which is considered to provide general knowledge, as opposed to vocational/occupational, technical or mechanical training; usually found in the phrase "liberal arts".
      He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
      • 1983, David Leslie Wagner, The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages:
  6. (politics) Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical liberalism or "modern liberalism"/progressivism.
    • 2021, Judith Rainhorn, The Colour of Controversy..., p. 10:
      Endorsing the liberal anti-interventionist credo that the marketplace should act as the "site of verification," the advocates of white lead opposed government intervention for the sake of open economic competition, which they claimed revealed its true value and thus should be the sole determinant: "When the railways were built, the stage coaches disppeared; they died a timely death. If zinc white is truly superior to white lead, it will kill us in the marketplace, but the government should not intervene." These were the words of Expert-Bezançon, in his February 1903 deposition to the parliamentary committee examining the bill for banning lead-based pigments in paint.

Usage notes

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  • Differences between the classical and modern political definitions of the word "liberal" can make some phrases ambiguous. For example, if one says a certain region has "liberal gun laws," this can be interpreted with two opposite meanings.
  • Recently, “liberal” as it was used previously has split into two terms “liberal” and “leftist”, where “leftist” refers to one with left-wing views spanning all political issues, whereas “liberal” refers to one with left-wing views on social and environmental issues but centrist or even conservative views on matters concerning economics and political reform.

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Korean: 리버럴하다 (ribeoreolhada)

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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liberal (plural liberals)

  1. One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see Wikipedia's article on Liberalism).
  2. (US politics, Canadian politics, Philippine politics) Someone with progressive or left-wing views, especially on social and environmental issues.
  3. (politics) A supporter of any of several liberal parties.
  4. (UK politics) One who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights, and laissez-faire markets (also called "classical liberal"; compare libertarian).
  5. (Australian politics) A conservative, especially a liberal conservative.

Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”). First attested in the 14th century.[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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liberal m or f (masculine and feminine plural liberals)

  1. generous.
  2. tolerant, permissive.
  3. (job) A job with economic autonomy and intellectual activity, as in liberal professionals
  4. liberal, supporter of economic liberalism.

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ “liberal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Further reading

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German

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Etymology

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From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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liberal (strong nominative masculine singular liberaler, comparative liberaler, superlative am liberalsten)

  1. liberal; permissive; allowing personal freedoms
    Seine Eltern waren streng katholische Kirchgänger, aber liberal gegenüber ihren Kindern.
    His parents were strict Catholic church-goers, but were liberal towards their children.
  2. (politics) libertarian; liberal in the traditional sense (see usage notes below)
    Die FDP ist die wichtigste liberale Partei in Deutschland.
    The FDP is Germany’s most important libertarian party.

Usage notes

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  • Liberale Parteien (“libertarian/liberal parties”) in German-speaking Europe are associated with support for free-market economy and small government. These parties most often represent the centre or even the centre-right of the political spectrum. The sense “left-wing”, which English liberal now often has, does not exist in the German word. When used of particular policies, German liberal means “permissive, rejecting legal restraints”. Thus, for example, left-wing parties are more likely to be liberal with regard to abortion, while right-wing parties are more likely to be liberal with regard to arms sales.

Declension

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Positive forms of liberal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist liberal sie ist liberal es ist liberal sie sind liberal
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative liberaler liberale liberales liberale
genitive liberalen liberaler liberalen liberaler
dative liberalem liberaler liberalem liberalen
accusative liberalen liberale liberales liberale
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der liberale die liberale das liberale die liberalen
genitive des liberalen der liberalen des liberalen der liberalen
dative dem liberalen der liberalen dem liberalen den liberalen
accusative den liberalen die liberale das liberale die liberalen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein liberaler eine liberale ein liberales (keine) liberalen
genitive eines liberalen einer liberalen eines liberalen (keiner) liberalen
dative einem liberalen einer liberalen einem liberalen (keinen) liberalen
accusative einen liberalen eine liberale ein liberales (keine) liberalen
Comparative forms of liberal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist liberaler sie ist liberaler es ist liberaler sie sind liberaler
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative liberalerer liberalere liberaleres liberalere
genitive liberaleren liberalerer liberaleren liberalerer
dative liberalerem liberalerer liberalerem liberaleren
accusative liberaleren liberalere liberaleres liberalere
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der liberalere die liberalere das liberalere die liberaleren
genitive des liberaleren der liberaleren des liberaleren der liberaleren
dative dem liberaleren der liberaleren dem liberaleren den liberaleren
accusative den liberaleren die liberalere das liberalere die liberaleren
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein liberalerer eine liberalere ein liberaleres (keine) liberaleren
genitive eines liberaleren einer liberaleren eines liberaleren (keiner) liberaleren
dative einem liberaleren einer liberaleren einem liberaleren (keinen) liberaleren
accusative einen liberaleren eine liberalere ein liberaleres (keine) liberaleren
Superlative forms of liberal
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am liberalsten sie ist am liberalsten es ist am liberalsten sie sind am liberalsten
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative liberalster liberalste liberalstes liberalste
genitive liberalsten liberalster liberalsten liberalster
dative liberalstem liberalster liberalstem liberalsten
accusative liberalsten liberalste liberalstes liberalste
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der liberalste die liberalste das liberalste die liberalsten
genitive des liberalsten der liberalsten des liberalsten der liberalsten
dative dem liberalsten der liberalsten dem liberalsten den liberalsten
accusative den liberalsten die liberalste das liberalste die liberalsten
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein liberalster eine liberalste ein liberalstes (keine) liberalsten
genitive eines liberalsten einer liberalsten eines liberalsten (keiner) liberalsten
dative einem liberalsten einer liberalsten einem liberalsten (keinen) liberalsten
accusative einen liberalsten eine liberalste ein liberalstes (keine) liberalsten

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • “liberal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[2] (in German)
  • “liberal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Indonesian

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Etymology

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From Dutch liberaal, from Middle French [Term?] (Modern French libéral), from Old French liberal, from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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libêral (comparative lebih liberal, superlative paling liberal)

  1. liberal:
    1. widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive
    2. (politics) open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Malay

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English liberal, from Old French liberal, from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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liberal (comparative lebih liberal, superlative paling liberal)

  1. liberal[1]
    1. widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive
    2. (politics) open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism

References

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  1. ^ “liberal”, in Kamus Dewan [The Institute Dictionary] (in Malay), Fourth edition, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2005, →ISBN

Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From French libéral, from Latin liberalis.

Adjective

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liberal (masculine and feminine liberal, neuter liberalt, definite singular and plural liberale)

  1. liberal

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

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From French libéral, from Latin līberālis.

Adjective

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liberal (neuter liberalt, definite singular and plural liberale)

  1. liberal

References

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Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

Adjective

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liberal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular liberale)

  1. appropriate for a free person
  2. generous; giving

Descendants

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ-
Proto-Indo-European *-teros
Proto-Indo-European *h₁léwdʰeros
Proto-Italic *louðeros
Old Latin loeber
Latin līber
Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?
Proto-Italic *-ālis
Latin -ālis
Latin līberālislbor.
Portuguese liberal

    Learned borrowing from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”).

    Pronunciation

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    • (Portugal) IPA(key): /li.bɨˈɾal/ [li.βɨˈɾaɫ]
      • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /li.bɨˈɾa.li/ [li.βɨˈɾa.li]

    • Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
    • Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

    Adjective

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    liberal m or f (plural liberais)

    1. liberal, generous, tolerant
    2. (politics) liberal

    Derived terms

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    Noun

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    liberal m or f by sense (plural liberais)

    1. (politics) liberal
    2. (historical) a supporter of the legitimacy of the queen Maria II of Portugal and her descendants
      Synonym: malhado
      Coordinate term: absolutista

    Usage notes

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    In Brazil, the political sense of "liberal" is used to describe supporters of economic freedom, like classical liberals.

    Further reading

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    Romanian

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from French libéral, from Latin liberalis. Equivalent to liber +‎ -al.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /libeˈral/
    • Rhymes: -al
    • Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

    Adjective

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    liberal m or n (feminine singular liberală, masculine plural liberali, feminine/neuter plural liberale)

    1. liberal

    Declension

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    Declension of liberal
    singular plural
    masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
    nominative-
    accusative     		indefinite liberal liberală liberali liberale
    definite liberalul liberala liberalii liberalele
    genitive-
    dative     		indefinite liberal liberale liberali liberale
    definite liberalului liberalei liberalilor liberalelor
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    Serbo-Croatian

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    Etymology

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    From lȉberālan.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /liběraːl/
    • Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

    Noun

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    libèrāl m anim (Cyrillic spelling либѐра̄л)

    1. liberal

    Declension

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    Declension of liberal
    singular plural
    nominative libèrāl liberali
    genitive liberála liberala
    dative liberalu liberalima
    accusative liberala liberale
    vocative liberale liberali
    locative liberalu liberalima
    instrumental liberalom liberalima

    References

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    • “liberal”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

    Spanish

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    Etymology

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    From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /libeˈɾal/ [li.β̞eˈɾal]
    • Audio (Colombia):(file)
    • Rhymes: -al
    • Syllabification: li‧be‧ral

    Adjective

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    liberal m or f (masculine and feminine plural liberales)

    1. liberal (clarification of this definition is needed)
    2. (US politics) liberal
    3. (Rioplatense) libertarian

    Derived terms

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    Noun

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    liberal m or f by sense (plural liberales)

    1. liberal
    2. (US politics) liberal
    3. (Rioplatense) libertarian

    Further reading

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    Swedish

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    Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia sv

    Etymology

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    From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    liberal (comparative liberalare, superlative liberalast)

    1. liberal
    2. (politics) of or pertaining to the Liberals (Liberalerna (L))

    Declension

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    Inflection of liberal
    Indefinite positive comparative superlative1
    common singular liberal liberalare liberalast
    neuter singular liberalt liberalare liberalast
    plural liberala liberalare liberalast
    masculine plural2 liberale liberalare liberalast
    Definite positive comparative superlative
    masculine singular3 liberale liberalare liberalaste
    all liberala liberalare liberalaste

    1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
    2 Dated or archaic.
    3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

    Noun

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    liberal c

    1. a liberal
    2. (politics) a member or supporter of the Liberals (Liberalerna (L))
      Synonym: (historical) folkpartist

    Usage notes

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    Formed as Folkpartiet (the People's Party) in 1934, then renamed to Folkpartiet liberalerna (the Liberal People's Party) in 1990, and then renamed to Liberalerna (the Liberals) in 2015.

    Declension

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    Declension of liberal
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite liberal liberals
    definite liberalen liberalens
    plural indefinite liberaler liberalers
    definite liberalerna liberalernas
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    See also

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    • centerpartist (“member or supporter of the Centre Party (Centerpartiet (C))”)
    • folkpartist (“member or supporter of the People's Party (Folkpartiet (FP)) (historical – now called the Liberals)”)
    • kristdemokrat (“member or supporter of the Christian Democrats (Kristdemokraterna (KD))”)
    • miljöpartist (“member or supporter of the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de gröna (MP))”)
    • moderat (“member or supporter of the Moderate Party (Moderata samlingspartiet (M))”)
    • piratpartist (“member or supporter of the Pirate Party (Piratpartiet (PP))”)
    • socialdemokrat (“member or supporter of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterna (S))”)
    • sosse (“colloquially, member or supporter of the Social Democrats”)
    • sverigedemokrat (“member or supporter of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna (SD))”)
    • vänsterpartist (“member or supporter of the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet (V))”)

    References

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    Tagalog

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Spanish liberal.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    liberál (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊᜒᜇᜎ᜔)

    1. liberal

    Derived terms

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    Turkish

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    Etymology

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    From French libéral.

    Adjective

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    liberal

    1. liberal
    Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=liberal&oldid=90937602"