liberty

From Middle English liberte, borrowed from Old French liberté, from Latin libertas (“freedom”), from liber (“free”); see liberal.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪbɚti/

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liberty (countable and uncountable, plural liberties)

1. The condition of being free from control or restrictions.

   The army is here, your liberty is assured.

   • 2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894:

     [Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.

2. The condition of being free from imprisonment, slavery or forced labour.

   The prisoners gained their liberty from an underground tunnel.

3. The condition of being free to act, believe or express oneself as one chooses.

   Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

   • 1869, Robert Burns, “The Tree of Liberty”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume III (Posthumous Poems), Kilmarnock, Scotland: Printed by James M‘Kie, OCLC 892088677, page 360:

     I'd gie my ſhoon frae aff my feet, / To taſte ſic fruit, I ſwear, man. / Syne let us pray, auld England may / Sure plant this far-famed tree, man; / And blythe we'll ſing, and hail the day / That gave us liberty, man.

4. Freedom from excessive government control.
   • 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23:

     The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.

5. A short period when a sailor is allowed ashore.

   We're going on a three-day liberty as soon as we dock.

6. (often plural) A breach of social convention.

   You needn't take such liberties.

7. A local division of government administration in medieval England.
8. In the board game go, an empty space next to a group of stones of the same color.

• freedom

• liberty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• liberty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Liberty in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• liberty on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Liberty (division) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

liberty m (invariable)

1. art nouveau