liberality en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˌlɪbəˈɹælɪti/
- (US) audio
Etymology
From Middle English liberalite, from Old French liberalité, from Latin līberālitās (“a noble, kind, or friendly disposition; generosity”), equivalent to liberal + -ity.
Meanings
-
(uncountable, usually) The property of being liberal; generosity; charity.
She preferred that Lord Rotheles's liberality should take a purely personal direction. Whatever decorations might be lavished upon her dressing-room, the dowager would have to leave them behind her; not so those which filled the prodigality of red morocco cases on her toilette.
1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 20:That liberality is but cast away / Which makes us borrow what we cannot pay.
1668, John Denham, Of Justice (poem)'[…] Mrs. Ferrars, with the utmost liberality, will come forward, and settle on him a thousand a-year, if the match takes place. […]'
1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
-
(uncountable, usually) A gift; a gratuity.
A prudent man is not impoverished by his liberalities.
- (uncountable, usually) Candor.
- (uncountable, usually) Impartiality.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| liberalities | Number=Plur | lexicographic |