Dictionary

liberalism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈlɪ.b(ə.)ɹə.lɪz.əm/

Etymology

Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The quality of being liberal.
2. (countable, uncountable) Any political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.
   • This poses obvious problems for statistical inference in that what may appear as ‘declines’ in non-white racial liberalism may actually be due to increases in representation of non-black racial/ethnic minorities whose racial attitudes are more conservative. 2022 May 2, Zachary Goldberg, “Explaining Shifts in White Racial Liberalism: The Role of Collective Moral Emotions and Media Effects”, in Georgia State University, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2025, page 142:
   • Whether some distant cousin really belongs to the extended family of liberalisms is a matter of healthy dispute. 2009 January 25, Timothy Garton Ash, “A Liberal Translation”, in The New York Times:
3. (countable, uncountable) An economic ideology in favour of laissez faire and the free market (related to economic liberalism).
   • But liberalism has no obvious answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and technological disruption. 2018, Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century:
4. (countable, qualifier:international relations, uncountable) A school of international relations that emphasises cooperation (such as trade) between polities, as an alternative to power politics, and the geopolitically transformative role of democratisation, as opposed to inherent structural material factors.

Forms

Deriveds

neoliberalism · palaeoliberalism · classical liberalism · neoclassical liberalism · post-neoliberalism · paleoliberalism · economic liberalism · ultraliberalism · antiliberalism · social liberalism

Relateds

free market

Translations (115)

fi liberalismi (economic theory) · ar لِيبْرَالِيَّة (political movement) · hy լիբերալիզմ (political movement) · de Liberalismus (quality of being liberal) · nn liberalisme (political movement) · sh либералѝзам (economic theory) · el λιμπεραλισμός (economic theory) · id liberalisme (political movement) · fi vapaamielisyys (quality of being liberal) · hak 自由主義 /自由主义 (political movement) · fr libéralisme (quality of being liberal) · mk либерализам (political movement) · az liberalizm (political movement) · pl liberalizm (quality of being liberal) · hy լիբերալիզմ (economic theory) · et liberalism (quality of being liberal) · lt liberalizmas (political movement) · it liberalismo (quality of being liberal) · sk liberalizmus (political movement) · ca liberalisme (quality of being liberal) · es liberalismo (quality of being liberal) · bn উদারনীতিবাদ (political movement) · ja 自由主義 (political movement) · fo liberalisma (political movement) · el λιμπεραλισμός (quality of being liberal) · bg либерали́зъм (political movement) · fi liberalismi (political movement) · cmn 自由主義 /自由主义 (economic theory) · el φιλελευθερισμός (economic theory) · it liberalismo (political movement) · uz liberalizm (political movement) · el φιλελευθερισμός (political movement) · vi chủ nghĩa tự do (quality of being liberal) · id liberalisme (economic theory) · ru либерали́зм (quality of being liberal) · kk либерализм (political movement) · gl liberalismo (economic theory) · es liberalismo (economic theory) · uk лібералі́зм (political movement) · ru либерали́зм (political movement) · pt liberalismo (quality of being liberal) · ja 自由主義 (quality of being liberal) · cs liberalizmus (political movement) · hy ազատականություն (political movement) · km សេរីនិយម (political movement) · sv liberalism (quality of being liberal) · sq liberalizëm (political movement) · mg liberalisma (political movement) · lo ເສລີນິຍົມ (political movement) · sv liberalism (political movement) · is frjálshyggja (political movement) · ka ლიბერალობა (quality of being liberal) · cy rhyddfrydiaeth (political movement) · nan-hbl 自由主義 /自由主义 (political movement) · hu liberalizmus (political movement) · eo liberalismo (political movement) · ast lliberalismu (political movement) · pt liberalismo (economic theory) · th เสรีนิยม (political movement) · ka ლიბერალიზმი (political movement) · uk лібералізм (quality of being liberal) · io liberalismo (political movement) · ga liobrálachas (political movement) · ar لِيبْرَالِيَّة (quality of being liberal) · ms liberalisme (political movement) · ru либерали́зм (economic theory) · ky либерализм (political movement) · ca liberalisme (political movement) · sl liberalizem (political movement) · be лібералі́зм (political movement) · he לִיבֶּרָלִיזְם (political movement) · pl liberalizm (political movement) · pt liberalismo (political movement) · mn либерализм (political movement) · sh либералѝзам (political movement) · vi chủ nghĩa tự do (political movement) · mwl liberalismo (political movement) · tg либерализм (political movement) · de Liberalismus (political movement) · gl liberalismo (political movement) · ko 자유주의 (quality of being liberal) · he ליברליזם (quality of being liberal) · et liberalism (political movement) · tk liberalizm (political movement) · cmn 自由主義 /自由主义 (quality of being liberal) · jam liberalizim (political movement) · nan-hbl 自由主義 /自由主义 (quality of being liberal) · my လစ်ဘရယ်ဝါဒ (political movement) · pl liberalizm (economic theory) · cmn 自由主義 /自由主义 (political movement) · fa لیبرالیسم (political movement) · ko 자유주의 (political movement) · tr liberalizm (political movement) · sv marknadsliberalism (economic theory) · an liberalismo (political movement) · sv nyliberalism (economic theory) · es liberalismo (political movement) · sh liberalìzam (economic theory) · el λιμπεραλισμός (political movement) · sh liberalìzam (political movement) · fr libéralisme (political movement) · ro liberalism (political movement) · yi ליבעראַליזם (political movement) · da liberalisme (political movement) · hi उदारतावाद (political movement) · cs liberalizmus (economic theory) · ka ლიბერალიზმი (quality of being liberal) · lo ເສຣີນິຍົມ (political movement) · lv liberālisms (political movement) · mr उदारमतवाद (quality of being liberal) · nb liberalisme (political movement) · grc φιλελευθερισμός (quality of being liberal) · la līberālismus (political movement) · hak 自由主義 /自由主义 (quality of being liberal) · nl liberalisme (political movement)