liberal en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- lĭbʹ(ə)rəl (Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈləb.(ə.)ɹəl/ (New-Zealand)
- (US) audio
- /ˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹəl/ (Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
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.
Meanings
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Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
Indeed, the Government has been very liberal in the expenditure of public money
1899, J. M. Baltimore, “Pacific Coast Light Service”, in Overland Monthly, volume 33:Queen Isabella was already being called Santa Isabella by many of her subjects because she was liberal with her alms.
2007, Helena Page Schrader, The English Templar, →ISBN, page 309: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.
2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:When he shows improvement she is liberal with her praise and then moves on to the next set of skills to be learnt.
2005, John Gardner, Assessment and Learning, →ISBN, page 50:Was it because the believers were so liberal with their possessions that God was so liberal with his grace?
2010, Simon Guillebaud, More Than Conquerors: A Call to Radical Discipleship, →ISBN, page 142:He was liberal with his compliments.
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Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
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.
1896, Ice and refrigeration, volume 11, page 93:Rose put a steaming cup of mint tea in front of me and spooned a liberal helping of honey into it.
2011, Marlene Perez, Dead Is Not an Option, →ISBN, page 37:The result was usually that such helpers got a liberal sprinkling of mud over their clothing.
2009, R. Furman Kenney, Chesterville: The Village at the End of the Road, →ISBN, page 102:Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
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Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
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(obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
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.
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]:
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Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is personal development rather than functional learning. ▸ 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.
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, […]
1997, Gordon D. Morgan, Toward an American Sociology: Questioning the European Construct, →ISBN, page 45:
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(qualifier:now rare outside set phrases) Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is personal development rather than functional learning. ▸ 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.
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Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical liberalism or "modern liberalism"/progressivism.
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.
2021, Judith Rainhorn, The Colour of Controversy..., p. 10
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most liberal | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more liberal | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Antonyms
close-minded · conservative · authoritarian
Deriveds
NazLib · liberally · paleoliberal · counterliberal · liberal education · librandu · liberal-mindedly · Liberal Zionism · liberalminded · small l liberal · liberalitis · nonliberal · latte liberal · libturd · liberalize · Liberal Party · overliberal · liberalese · palaeoliberal · liberal arts · liberal feminism · technoliberal · preliberal · hyperliberal · liberal conservatives · semiliberal · small liberal · neoclassical liberal · liberal-mindedness · liberal-minded · liberal science · liberalistic · liberalspeak · liberalward · archliberal · liberalphobia · neoliberal · unliberal · liberal homophobia · milliberal · scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds · superliberal · libshit · counter-liberal · boba liberal · liberal guilt · liberal eugenics · libtard · scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist · liberal conservatism · pseudoliberal · protoliberal · ultraliberal · liberal elite · postliberal · liberal democracy · social liberal · liberalish · liberaltarian · liberal parties · liberality · liberalization · limousine liberal · liberalness · classical liberal · liberal party · Liberal Democrat · Liberal Unionist · lieberal · Liberal · neo-liberal
Descendants
Hyponyms
Relateds
liberalist · liberty · liberalism · liberation · liberate · libertarian
Synonyms
honkin' · outsized · vast · sizeable · giantesque · astronomic · hefty · loose · bulky · lustful · hulking · goodwilly · commodious · exceeding · Daniel Lambertish · stonking · liberal · enormous · gigantesque · immense · frolic · gigantic · overlarge · hefty · wanton · huge · nonstandard)) · frolic · good-sized · elephantine · munificent · colossal · cyclopean · mahoosive · free · super- · ginormous · voluminous · open-handed · giving · monumental · open-handed · generous · largifical · oversized · liberal · abandoned · considerable · open-minded · big · free · indulgent · catholic · yuge · great · liberal · permissible · elephantic · good-sized · tremendous · big fat · mammoth · monstrous · larger than life · slack · charitable · broad · munificent · sufferable · forbearing · fouthy · massive · hench · oversize · easy · prodigious · humongous · stupendous · grand · generous · ample · whopping · long · gargantuan · great big · liberal · tall · mastodonic · Pythonic · tolerant · lenient · promiscuous · jumbo · titanic · fast · unchaste · roomy · lusty · avuncular · openhanded · full · expansive · lascivious · latitudinarian · supersized · common · riggish · pantagruelian · cosmic · giftful · boxcar · wide · bodacious · tolerant · leviathan · mega- · laissez faire · spacious · jannock · behemothic · Brobdingnagian · handsome · easy · permissive · broad-minded · rotund · lewd · libidinous · open-minded · broad-minded · substantial · hunormous · mountainous · gigantuan (colloquial · prodigious · pyramidal · charitable · immane · giant · wappened · licentious · lustful
Translations (82)
ko 자유주의(自由主義)의 (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · ru ще́дрый (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · tr açık fikirli (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · de freiheitlich (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · nl vrijzinnig (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · fi liberaali (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · fi estoton (obsolete: unrestrained, licentious) · kw livrel (open to political or social reforms) · ko 풍부(豊富)하다 (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · sv frikostig (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · bg хуманитарен (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · ca tolerant (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · nn liberal (open to political or social reforms) · bg либера́лен (open to political or social reforms) · gl liberal (open to political or social reforms) · ca liberal (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · de liberal (open to political or social reforms) · uk лібера́льний (open to political or social reforms) · fr libéral (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · cy rhyddfrydol (open to political or social reforms) · fr libéral (open to political or social reforms) · ja 豊富な (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · ru ще́дрый (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · fi avokätinen (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · tr açık görüşlü (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · be лібера́льны (open to political or social reforms) · pl liberalny (open to political or social reforms) · ia liberal (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · es liberal (open to political or social reforms) · nb liberal (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · vi tụ do chủ nghĩa (open to political or social reforms) · nb liberal (open to political or social reforms) · fi vapaa (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · ja 寛容な (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · sv frikostig (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · gl liberal (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · ca liberal (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · el γενναιόδωρος (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · ota كریم (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ru либера́льный (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · fr généreux (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · la largus (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · gd pailt-làmhach (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · ota جومرد (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · fi vapaamielinen (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · tl malabusaw (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · ko 많다 (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · pl liberalny (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · ru оби́льный (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · fi antelias (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ko 후(厚)하다 (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ca liberal (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · ja 自由主義的な (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · fi runsas (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · tr cömert (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ko 관대(寬大)하다 (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · bg свободомислещ (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · fr large (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · fi liberaali (open to political or social reforms) · ko 개방적(開放的)이다 (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · bg обилен (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · sv väl tilltagen (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · gl liberal (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · ru либера́льный (open to political or social reforms) · ca liberal (open to political or social reforms) · mi kaimārire (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · fr large (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · fr libéral (pertaining to the arts the study of which is considered worthy of a free man) · nn liberal (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · ko 진보적(進步的)이다 (open to political or social reforms) · ca abundant (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · sw kiliberali (open to political or social reforms) · fr de gauche (open to political or social reforms) · tr eli açık (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ca generós (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ja 革新的な (widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions, conventions etc.) · mi kaimārire (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · ca generós (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · pt liberal (open to political or social reforms) · sv rundhänt (ample, abundant, generous in quantity) · sa मी॒ढ्वांस् (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly) · bg щедър (generous, permitting liberty, willing to give unsparingly)