Meaning of liberal in English

liberal

adjective

/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/ us

/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/

liberal adjective (SOCIETY)

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respecting and allowing many different types of beliefs or behaviour:

a liberal society/attitude

Her parents were far more liberal than mine.

Opposite

illiberal formal

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willing to consider new or different ideas

open-mindedThe campaign attracts progressive, open-minded people.
tolerantThey are very tolerant of different religions in that country.
broad-mindedTravel helps you become more broad-minded.
receptiveHe was very receptive to the idea.

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Espousal of such liberal ideas won't make her very popular around here.
Despite his apparent liberal views, he's really something of a puritan.
His natural supporters are the urban poor, and educated people of a liberal turn of mind.
He has very liberal attitudes towards sex.
My family are very liberal-minded.

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Open-minded

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liberal adjective (POLITICS)

believing in or allowing a lot of personal freedom, and believing that society should change gradually so that money, property, and power are shared more fairly:

He absorbed the attitudes of his politically liberal parents.

believing in or allowing a lot of freedom for businesses to buy, sell, and make money without many rules or limits, and with low taxes:

Polling data shows these voters are socially conservative and economically liberal.

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Her politics have become more liberal over the past few years.
I'm sick of bleeding-heart liberal politicians.
She is interested in liberal policies.
He believes that the liberal agenda is damaging to our country.
Discussions on farming will quickly turn into a dispute with liberal free-marketeers.

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Politics - general words

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Economics

liberal adjective (GENEROUS)

formal

giving or given in a generous way:

He was very liberal with the wine.

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freely giving money, help, etc. to others

generousThey were quite generous, donating to several charities.
open-handedShe is incredibly open-handed and won't hesitate to donate whenever asked.
free withOur professor is quite free with his time and will often extend office hours to accommodate extra students.
philanthropicThere are fewer philanthropic billionaires than one would assume.
charitableOxfam is a well-known charitable organization working to end global poverty.

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Plenty and abundant

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liberal adjective (NOT EXACT)

not exact; without attention to or interest in detail:

a liberal interpretation of the law

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Wrong

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Related words

liberalism
liberality
liberally

liberal

noun [ C ]

/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/ us

/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/

liberal noun [C] (SOCIETY)

someone who respects many different types of beliefs or behaviour:

I am a liberal who believes in tolerance.

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The city has a reputation for equality and tolerance, and has traditionally been a haven for liberals.
Liberals preach freedom of thought.
They are the sort of fake liberals who proclaim tolerance out of one side of their mouths and issue snobbish put-downs out of the other.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Open-minded

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liberal noun [C] (POLITICS)

someone who believes in personal freedom and that society should change gradually so that money, property, and power are shared more fairly:

She says she is proud to identify herself as a liberal and a feminist.

finance & economics specialized

someone who believes businesses should have a lot of freedom to buy, sell, and make money without many rules or limits, and with low taxes:

Three strands make up the party: the moderate reforming centre, the Thatcherite economic liberals, and the pro-clerical conservatives.

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"This is the first time anyone has referred to me as a liberal," he said. "Usually I'm pretty far over on the right."
Dole portrayed the president in campaign speeches as a "closet liberal".
Most of them are economic liberals or populists, and support tax cuts and government-spending reductions.
Economic liberals eventually became Republicans, political liberals Democrats.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Politics - general words

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Economics

(Definition of liberal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

liberal | American Dictionary

liberal

adjective

/ˈlɪb·ər·əl/

liberal adjective (SOCIAL)

Add to word list Add to word list

allowing many different types of beliefs or behavior:

a liberal society/person

liberal adjective (POLITICS)

politics & government

tending to emphasize the need to make new laws when necessary because of changing conditions and to depend on the government to provide social services:

a liberal policy/position

liberal adjective (GENEROUS)

giving or given in a generous way:

Some merchants offer very liberal return policies, but others are strict.

liberal adjective (NOT EXACT)

without attention to or interest in small details:

Other teachers are a lot more liberal about spelling errors than Mr. Brady.

liberal

noun [ C ]

/ˈlɪb·ə·rəl/

liberal noun [C] (POLITICALLY LIBERAL PERSON)

a person who thinks the government needs to make new laws when necessary because of changing conditions and who believes that the government should provide social services:

Liberals in Congress support the bill.

(Definition of liberal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

liberal | Business English

liberal

adjective

/ˈlɪbərəl/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

respecting and allowing many different types of beliefs or behaviour:

a liberal society/attitude/view Changing attitudes to sexuality are a reflection of a more liberal society.

a liberal policy/stance The government defends its liberal policy on soft drugs.

POLITICS

used to describe political beliefs and groups that support more personal freedom and a fairer sharing of wealth and power in society:

The federal government is bound to be a coalition involving the liberal party.

ECONOMICS, POLITICS

used to describe an economic system that allows industry to be free to develop without the involvement of government:

The successes of liberal economic policies in the US and Britain act as powerful examples.

giving or given in a generous way:

Terms were liberal, with small down payments and government financing.

not exact, and without attention to or interest in detail:

They now take a more liberal interpretation of their powers.

liberal

noun [ C ]

/ˈlɪbərəl/ us

someone who respects many different types of beliefs or behaviour:

Liberals believe that in order to defend our own freedom we ought to defend those of our fellow citizens.

someone who supports personal freedom and a fairer sharing of wealth and power in society:

He described his opponent as a liberal who would tax the rich.

(Definition of liberal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of liberal

liberal

Moreover, in a liberal democracy with a well-developed private sector, would-be hegemonic efforts to extend the party's influence through society can have unexpected results.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Political parties, despite their weaknesses and manipulation, are characteristic of liberal democracy.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Yet important normative questions have remained about the policies a liberal state should adopt toward religion.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The very fact that the word "philosophia" has been transferred from the seven liberal arts to natural science and metaphysics is significant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The university's participants occasionally suggested that the creation of an international university in the liberal mode was not their ultimate goal.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The campaign against the radical liberals encountered a number of difficulties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The debates demonstrated the importance of a more liberal regime after 1901.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The authors definitely take a liberal economic approach, which is mainly formulated in chapters eleven and twelve.

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The first phase of liberal social policy supported a dual model with a strong call for self-help and philanthropic initiatives.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here is a 7-point scale on which the political views that people might hold are arranged from extremely liberal to extremely conservative.

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Quite simply, the liberal state apparatus is a generic public interest system of administration.

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After two years of tolerance toward liberal clubs, their leaders were arrested and organisations disbanded in 1902.

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I unearthed only two other sets of articles expressing a liberal viewpoint - one published before the legislation was passed and the other subsequently.

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He believed that even more was required of modern citizens to insure a stable liberal system.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The irony was that conservatives and liberals both believed that public opinion was on the other side.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of liberal?

Translations of liberal

in Chinese (Traditional)

社會, 自由開放的，開放的，開明的, 政治…

Meaning of liberal in English

liberal adjective (SOCIETY)

liberal adjective (POLITICS)

liberal adjective (GENEROUS)

liberal adjective (NOT EXACT)

Related words

liberal noun [C] (SOCIETY)

liberal noun [C] (POLITICS)

liberal | American Dictionary

liberal adjective (SOCIAL)

liberal adjective (POLITICS)

liberal adjective (GENEROUS)

liberal adjective (NOT EXACT)

liberal noun [C] (POLITICALLY LIBERAL PERSON)

liberal | Business English

Examples of liberal

Translations of liberal

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