LIBERAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does liberal mean? 

• LIBERAL (noun)
  The noun LIBERAL has 2 senses:

1. a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

2. a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets

  Familiarity information: LIBERAL used as a noun is rare.

• LIBERAL (adjective)
  The adjective LIBERAL has 5 senses:

1. showing or characterized by broad-mindedness

2. having political or social views favoring reform and progress

3. tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition

4. given or giving freely

5. not literal

  Familiarity information: LIBERAL used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIBERAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

liberal; liberalist; progressive

Hypernyms ("liberal" is a kind of...):

adult; grownup (a fully developed person from maturity onward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "liberal"):

armchair liberal (a person of liberal ideals who takes no action to realize them)

latitudinarian (a person who is broad-minded and tolerant (especially in standards of religious belief and conduct))

neoliberal (a liberal who subscribes to neoliberalism)

pluralist (someone who believes that distinct ethnic or cultural or religious groups can exist together in society)

Whig (a member of the political party that urged social reform in 18th and 19th century England; was the opposition party to the Tories)

Antonym:

conservative (a person who is reluctant to accept changes and new ideas)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("liberal" is a kind of...):

adult; grownup (a fully developed person from maturity onward)

• LIBERAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing or characterized by broad-mindedness

Synonyms:

broad; large-minded; liberal; tolerant

Context example:

tolerant of his opponent's opinions

Similar:

broad-minded (inclined to respect views and beliefs that differ from your own)

Derivation:

liberalness (an inclination to favor progress and individual freedom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having political or social views favoring reform and progress

Similar:

left (of or belonging to the political or intellectual left)

Derivation:

liberality; liberalness (an inclination to favor progress and individual freedom)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition

Similar:

civil-libertarian (having or showing active concern for protection of civil liberties protected by law)

welfare-statist; welfarist (of or relating to a welfare state)

socialised; socialized (under group or government control)

progressive; reform-minded; reformist (favoring or promoting reform (often by government action))

neoliberal (having or showing belief in the need for economic growth in addition to traditional liberalistic values)

liberalistic (having or demonstrating belief in the essential goodness of man and the autonomy of the individual; favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority)

Also:

left (of or belonging to the political or intellectual left)

Attribute:

ideology; political orientation; political theory (an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation)

Antonym:

conservative (resistant to change, particularly in relation to politics or religion)

Derivation:

liberalness (an inclination to favor progress and individual freedom)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Given or giving freely

Synonyms:

big; bighearted; bounteous; bountiful; freehanded; giving; handsome; liberal; openhanded

Context example:

her fond and openhanded grandfather

Similar:

generous (willing to give and share unstintingly)

Derivation:

liberality; liberalness (the trait of being generous in behavior and temperament)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Not literal

Synonyms:

free; liberal; loose

Context example:

a free translation of the poem

Similar:

inexact (not exact)

 Context examples 

Liberal as you are with your servants, one can hardly expect that they can buy twenty-guinea walking dresses for their ladies.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It has often led him to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Me! I suppose I smile for pleasure at Colonel Campbell's being so rich and so liberal.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I have no cause to do otherwise than like him; and I believe he is considered a just and liberal landlord by his tenants: but he has never lived much amongst them.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I have been a liberal housekeeper enough, but I shall not be ashamed to practise economy now.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Your father is so very liberal!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Yes, he would give them three thousand pounds: it would be liberal and handsome!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It is very fit they should have daughters' shares; and I am sure he has always been a very kind, liberal father to me.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)