English edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Adjective edit

liberal (comparative more liberal, superlative most liberal)

  1. (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.
    He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
    • 1983, David Leslie Wagner, The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages:
    • 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, []
    • 2008, Donal G. Mulcahy, The Educated Person: Toward a New Paradigm for Liberal Education, →ISBN:
  2. Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
    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.
  3. Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
    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.
  4. (obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
    • 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. Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
    Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
  6. (politics) Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism.

Usage notes edit

  • 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.

Antonyms edit

Hyponyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

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

Noun edit

liberal (plural liberals)

  1. One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see Wikipedia's article on Liberalism).
  2. (US politics) Someone with progressive or left-wing views; one with a left-wing ideology.
  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 edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

References edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

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 edit

References edit

  1. ^ liberal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

Further reading edit

German edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

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 edit

  • 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 edit

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit

  • liberal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • liberal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Indonesian edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

liberal

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

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology edit

From French libéral, from Latin liberalis.

Adjective edit

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

  1. liberal

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

 
Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology edit

From French libéral, from Latin līberālis.

Adjective edit

liberal (neuter liberalt, definite singular and plural liberale)

  1. liberal

References edit

Old French edit

Etymology edit

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

Adjective edit

liberal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular liberale)

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

Descendants edit

  • English: liberal
  • French: libéral

Portuguese edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin līberālis (befitting a freeman), from līber (free).

Pronunciation edit

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

  • Rhymes: -al, -aw
  • Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

Adjective edit

liberal m or f (plural liberais)

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

Derived terms edit

Noun edit

liberal m or f by sense (plural liberais)

  1. (politics) liberal

Usage notes edit

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

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

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

Adjective edit

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

  1. liberal

Declension edit

Related terms edit

Serbo-Croatian edit

Etymology edit

From lȉberālan.

Pronunciation edit

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

Noun edit

libèrāl m (Cyrillic spelling либѐра̄л)

  1. liberal

Declension edit

References edit

  • liberal” in Hrvatski jezični portal

Spanish edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

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

Adjective edit

liberal m or f (masculine and feminine plural liberales)

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

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Noun edit

liberal m or f by sense (plural liberales)

  1. liberal
  2. (US politics) liberal
  3. (Argentina, Uruguay) libertarian

Usage notes edit

  • In Latin America and Spain, the political sense of "liberal" is used to describe supporters of economic freedom, like classical liberals.

Further reading edit

Swedish edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

liberal (comparative liberalare, superlative liberalast)

  1. liberal

Declension edit

Inflection of liberal
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular liberal liberalare liberalast
Neuter singular liberalt liberalare liberalast
Plural liberala liberalare liberalast
Masculine plural3 liberale liberalare liberalast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 liberale liberalare liberalaste
All liberala liberalare liberalaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

Noun edit

liberal c

  1. a liberal

Declension edit

Declension of liberal 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative liberal liberalen liberaler liberalerna
Genitive liberals liberalens liberalers liberalernas

Related terms edit

References edit

Tagalog edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Spanish liberal.

Pronunciation edit

  • Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral
  • IPA(key): /libeˈɾal/, [lɪ.bɛˈɾal]

Adjective edit

liberál (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊᜒᜇᜎ᜔)

  1. liberal

Related terms edit

Turkish edit

Etymology edit

From French libéral.

Adjective edit

liberal

  1. liberal