liberal

CEFRC1

/ˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹəl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Supporting social and political change and individual freedom.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Willing to accept different ideas or behaviors.

Examples

  • He liked to think of himself as a liberal.

  • Take a liberal view of young people.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.

  2. Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.

  3. 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.

More examples

In context

  • Mr. White is a liberal politician.

  • Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.

  • Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The wealthy donor made a blank donation to the charity, giving away over half of his fortune.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

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.