# laissez faire
## English
### Alternative forms

* laissez-faire, laisser faire, laisser-faire

### Etymology

Borrowed from French laissez faire (“leave it be”, literally “let do”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈlæseɪ ˌfɛə(ɹ)/, /ˈleɪseɪ ˌfɛə(ɹ)/
* (General American) enPR: lĕs'ā fârʹ, lĕz'ā, lā'sā('), lā'zā('), IPA: /ˌlɛ(ˌ)seɪ ˈfɛəɹ/, /ˌleɪ-/, /-(ˌ)zeɪ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
* Hyphenation: lais‧sez faire

### Noun

laissez faire (uncountable)
* (economics, politics) A policy of governmental non-interference in economic affairs.
** 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, chapter 9, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book I (Proem), page 106:In brief, all this Mammon-Gospel of Supply-and-demand, Competition, Laissez-faire, and Devil take the hindmost, begins to be one of the shabbiest Gospels ever preached on Earth; or altogether the shabbiest.
** 2001 [1944], Karl Polanyi, “12. Birth of the Liberal Creed”, in The Great Transformation‎:While laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate State action, subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not.
* A policy of non-interference by authority in any competitive process.

#### Translations
### Adjective

laissez faire (comparative more laissez faire, superlative most laissez faire)
* (economics, politics) Practicing or representing governmental noninterference, or minimal interference, especially in economic affairs; pertaining to free-market capitalism.
    I think the city should take a laissez faire approach to this; getting involved would only make things worse.
* (economics, politics) Advocating such noninterference.
    The Senator claims to be laissez faire, but he voted in favor of the subsidies.
** 2001 [1944], Karl Polanyi, “12. Birth of the Liberal Creed”, in The Great Transformation‎:While laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate State action, subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not.
* (economics) Resulting from such noninterference.
    The price ceiling was well below the laissez faire price that demand would have supported, so there were always shortages.
* (of a person) Avoiding interference in other people's affairs; choosing to live and let live.

#### Translations
### See also

* benign neglect
* hands off
* laissez aller
* laissez passer
* let it be
* let nature take its course

## Danish
### Alternative forms

* laisser faire

### Etymology

Borrowed from French laissez faire

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [lɛseˈfɛːɐ̯]

### Noun

laissez faire c (uncountable)
* laissez faire

#### Derived terms

* laissez faire-politik

### References

* “laissez faire” in Den Danske Ordbog

## French
### Noun

laissez faire m (uncountable)
* (rare) Dated form of laisser-faire.

### Verb

laissez faire
* inflection of laisser faire:
** second-person plural present indicative
** second-person plural imperative

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French laissez faire (“leave it be”, literally “let do”).

### Noun

laissez faire
* (economics, politics) laissez faire

### Further reading

* “laissez faire” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.