liberal
English
Etymology
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
Adjective
liberal (comparative more liberal, superlative most liberal)
- (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.
- 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
- He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
- Generous; willing to give unsparingly.
- 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.
- He was liberal with his compliments.
- 2005, John Gardner, Assessment and Learning →ISBN, page 50:
- Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
- 1896, in 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.
- Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
- 1896, in Ice and refrigeration, volume 11, page 93:
- (obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1
- 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.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1
- Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
- Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
- (politics) Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism.
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- Liberal
- liberal arts
- Liberal Democrat
- Liberal Party
Related terms
Translations
pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man
generous, willing to give unsparingly
ample, abundant, generous in quantity
widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.
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open to political or social reforms
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Noun
liberal (plural liberals)
- One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see Wikipedia's article on Liberalism).
- (US) Someone left-wing; one with a left-wing ideology.
- A supporter of any of several liberal parties.
- (Britain) One who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights, and laissez-faire markets (also called "classical liberal"; compare libertarian).
Coordinate terms
Translations
one with liberal views, supporting individual liberty
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supporter of a liberal party — See also translations at progressive
Britain: one who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights and laissez-faire markets
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Further reading
- liberal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- liberal in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- "liberal" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 179.
Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
liberal (masculine and feminine plural liberals)
- liberal (clarification of this definition is needed)
Derived terms
- liberalisme
- liberalitzar
- liberalment
Further reading
- “liberal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌlibəˈʁaːl/, /ˌlɪ-/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aːl
Adjective
liberal (comparative liberaler, superlative am liberalsten)
- liberal; permissive; allowing personal freedoms
- Seine Eltern waren streng katholische Kirchgänger, aber liberal gegenüber den Kindern.
- His parents were strict Catholic church-goers, but were liberal towards their children.
- (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
- 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
Positive forms of liberal
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
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 | all genders | ||
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 | all genders | ||
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 |
Old French
Adjective
liberal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular liberale)
Portuguese
Pronunciation
Adjective
liberal m or f (plural liberais, comparable)
Usage notes
In Brazil, the political sense of "liberal" is used to describe supporters of economic freedom, like classical liberals.
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
From lȉberālan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /liběraːl/
- Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral
Declension
Spanish
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral
Swedish
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Declension
Inflection of liberal | |||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
Common singular | liberal | liberalare | liberalast |
Neuter singular | liberalt | liberalare | liberalast |
Plural | liberala | 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. |
Declension
Declension of liberal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | liberal | liberalen | liberaler | liberalerna |
Genitive | liberals | liberalens | liberalers | liberalernas |
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