# liberal
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lĭbʹrəl, IPA: /ˈlɪbɹəl/
* (General American) enPR: lĭbʹərəl, IPA: /ˈlɪbəɹəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɪbɹəl

### Adjective

liberal (comparative more liberal, superlative most liberal)
* (now rare outside set phrases) 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.
    He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
** 1983, David Leslie Wagner, The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages:
** 1997, Gordon D. Morgan, Toward an American Sociology: Questioning the European Construct, →ISBN, page 45: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, […]
** 2008, Donal G. Mulcahy, The Educated Person: Toward a New Paradigm for Liberal Education, →ISBN:
* Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
    He was liberal with his compliments.
** 1899, J. M. Baltimore, “Pacific Coast Light Service”, in Overland Monthly, volume 33:Indeed, the Government has been very liberal in the expenditure of public money
** 2005, John Gardner, Assessment and Learning, →ISBN, page 50:When he shows improvement she is liberal with her praise and then moves on to the next set of skills to be learnt.
** 2007, Helena Page Schrader, The English Templar, →ISBN, page 309:Queen Isabella was already being called Santa Isabella by many of her subjects because she was liberal with her alms.
** 2010, Simon Guillebaud, More Than Conquerors: A Call to Radical Discipleship, →ISBN, page 142:Was it because the believers were so liberal with their possessions that God was so liberal with his grace?
** 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18: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.
* Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
    Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
** 1896, Ice and refrigeration, volume 11, page 93: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.
** 2009, R. Furman Kenney, Chesterville: The Village at the End of the Road, →ISBN, page 102:The result was usually that such helpers got a liberal sprinkling of mud over their clothing.
** 2011, Marlene Perez, Dead Is Not an Option, →ISBN, page 37:Rose put a steaming cup of mint tea in front of me and spooned a liberal helping of honey into it.
* (obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
** 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]: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.
* Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
    Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
* (politics) Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism.
** 2021, Judith Rainhorn, The Colour of Controversy..., p. 10:
    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.

#### Usage notes

* Differences between the classical and modern political definitions of the word "liberal" can make some phrases ambiguous. For example, if one says a certain region has "liberal gun laws," this can be interpreted with two opposite meanings.

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “generous; permitting liberty”): authoritarian
* (antonym(s) of “widely open to new ideas”): conservative

#### Hyponyms

* small-l liberal

#### Derived terms

* archliberal
* boba liberal
* classical liberal
* counterliberal
* counter-liberal
* hyperliberal
* latte liberal
* Liberal
* liberal arts
* liberal conservatism
* liberal conservatives
* liberal democracy
* Liberal Democrat
* liberal education
* liberal elite
* liberalese
* liberal eugenics
* liberal feminism
* liberal guilt
* liberal homophobia
* liberalish
* liberalistic
* liberalitis
* liberality
* liberalization
* liberalize
* liberally
* liberalminded
* liberal-minded
* liberal-mindedly
* liberal-mindedness
* liberalness
* liberal parties
* liberal party
* Liberal Party
* liberalphobia
* liberal science
* liberalspeak
* liberaltarian
* liberalward
* Liberal Zionism
* librandu
* libshit
* libtard
* libturd
* lieberal
* limousine liberal
* milliberal
* NazLib
* neoclassical liberal
* neo-liberal, neoliberal
* nonliberal
* overliberal
* palaeoliberal
* paleoliberal
* postliberal
* preliberal
* protoliberal
* pseudoliberal
* scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds
* scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist
* semiliberal
* small l liberal
* small "l" liberal
* social liberal
* superliberal
* technoliberal
* ultraliberal
* unliberal

#### Related terms

* liberalism
* liberalist
* liberate
* liberation
* libertarian
* liberty

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

liberal (plural liberals)
* One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see Wikipedia's article on Liberalism).
* (US politics) Someone with progressive or left-wing views; one with a left-wing ideology.
** 1966, Phil Ochs, “Love Me, I'm a Liberal”‎:And I love Puerto Ricans and Negros As long as they don't move next door. So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal.
* (politics) A supporter of any of several liberal parties.
* (UK politics) One who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights, and laissez-faire markets (also called "classical liberal"; compare libertarian).
* (Australian politics) A conservative, especially a liberal conservative.

#### Coordinate terms

* moderate, conservative, progressive, libertarian, centrist

#### Derived terms

* neo-liberal, neoliberal

#### Translations
### References

* “liberal”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* liberal in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
* "liberal" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 179.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “liberal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “liberal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Further reading

* “liberal”, in Collins English Dictionary.
* “liberal”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* “liberal”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “liberal”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

### Anagrams

* Braille, Briella, braille

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”). First attested in the 14th century.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [li.βəˈɾal]
* IPA: (Balearic) [li.bəˈɾal]
* IPA: (Valencia) [li.beˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

### Adjective

liberal m or f (masculine and feminine plural liberals)
* generous.
* tolerant, permissive.
* (job) A job with economic autonomy and intellectual activity, as in liberal professionals
* liberal, supporter of economic liberalism.

#### Derived terms

* liberalisme
* liberalitzar
* liberalment
* neoliberal

### References

* ↑ “liberal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

### Further reading

* “liberal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “liberal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “liberal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## German
### Etymology

From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌlibəˈʁaːl/, /ˌlɪ-/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːl

### Adjective

liberal (strong nominative masculine singular liberaler, comparative liberaler, superlative am liberalsten)
* liberal; permissive; allowing personal freedoms
    Seine Eltern waren streng katholische Kirchgänger, aber liberal gegenüber ihren Kindern.His parents were strict Catholic church-goers, but were liberal towards their children.
* (politics) libertarian; liberal in the traditional sense (see usage notes below)
    Die FDP ist die wichtigste liberale Partei in Deutschland.The FDP is Germany’s most important libertarian party.

#### Usage notes

* Liberale Parteien (“libertarian/liberal parties”) in German-speaking Europe are associated with support for free-market economy and small government. These parties most often represent the centre or even the centre-right of the political spectrum. The sense “left-wing”, which English liberal now often has, does not exist in the German word. When used of particular policies, German liberal means “permissive, rejecting legal restraints”. Thus, for example, left-wing parties are more likely to be liberal with regard to abortion, while right-wing parties are more likely to be liberal with regard to arms sales.

#### Derived terms

* liberalisieren
* Liberalismus

### Further reading

* “liberal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
* “liberal” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

## Indonesian
### Etymology

From Dutch liberaal, from Middle French [Term?] (Modern French libéral), from Old French liberal, from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [libəˈral]
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: li‧bê‧ral

### Adjective

libêral
* liberal:
** widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
** open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism.

#### Derived terms

* peliberalan
* demokrasi liberal

#### Related terms

* liberalis
* liberalisasi
* liberalisme
* Libra

### Further reading

* “liberal” 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.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From French libéral, from Latin liberalis.

### Adjective

liberal (masculine and feminine liberal, neuter liberalt, definite singular and plural liberale)
* liberal

### References

* “liberal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “liberal” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From French libéral, from Latin līberālis.

### Adjective

liberal (neuter liberalt, definite singular and plural liberale)
* liberal

### References

* “liberal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Etymology

From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Adjective

liberal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular liberale)
* appropriate for a free person
* generous; giving

#### Descendants

* → English: liberal
* French: libéral

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /li.beˈɾaw/ [li.beˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /li.bɨˈɾal/ [li.βɨˈɾaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /li.bɨˈɾal/ [li.βɨˈɾaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /li.bɨˈɾa.li/ [li.βɨˈɾa.li]
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

### Adjective

liberal m or f (plural liberais)
* liberal, generous, tolerant
* (politics) liberal

#### Derived terms

* liberalmente
* liberalóide

### Noun

liberal m or f by sense (plural liberais)
* (politics) liberal

### Usage notes

In Brazil, the political sense of "liberal" is used to describe supporters of economic freedom, like classical liberals.

## Romanian
### Alternative forms

* либерал (liberal) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

### Etymology

Borrowed from French libéral, from Latin liberalis. Equivalent to liber +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /libeˈral/
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

### Adjective

liberal m or n (feminine singular liberală, masculine plural liberali, feminine and neuter plural liberale)
* liberal

#### Related terms

* liberalism
* liberalitate

## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology

From lȉberālan.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /liběraːl/
* Hyphenation: li‧be‧ral

### Noun

libèrāl m (Cyrillic spelling либѐра̄л)
* liberal

#### Declension
### References

* “liberal”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /libeˈɾal/ [li.β̞eˈɾal]
* Audio (Colombia):(file)
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: li‧be‧ral

### Adjective

liberal m or f (masculine and feminine plural liberales)
* liberal (clarification of this definition is needed)
* (US politics) liberal
* (Rioplatense) libertarian

#### Derived terms

* antiliberal
* artes liberales
* democracia liberal
* liberalismo
* liberalizar
* liberalmente

#### Related terms

* liberalidad

### Noun

liberal m or f by sense (plural liberales)
* liberal
* (US politics) liberal
* (Rioplatense) libertarian

#### Usage notes

* In Latin America and Spain, the political sense of "liberal" is used to describe supporters of economic freedom, like classical liberals.

### Further reading

* “liberal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

liberal (comparative liberalare, superlative liberalast)
* liberal

#### Declension

$^1$ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. $^2$ Dated or archaic. $^3$ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

### Noun

liberal c
* a liberal

#### Declension
### Related terms

* liberalisera
* liberalism
* liberalistisk
* liberalitet

### References

* liberal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* liberal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* liberal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

## Tagalog
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish liberal.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog) IPA: /libeˈɾal/ [lɪ.bɛˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: li‧be‧ral

### Adjective

liberál (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊᜒᜇᜎ᜔)
* liberal

#### Derived terms

* lapiang liberal

#### Related terms

* liberalismo
* liberasyon
* libertad
* partido liberal
* Partido Liberal

## Turkish
### Etymology

From French libéral.

### Adjective

liberal
* liberal