Liberalism Meaning
/ˈlɪ.b(ə.)ɹə.lɪz.əm/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe quality of being liberal.
nounAny political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.
Sentence Examples
I do not believe in liberalism.
I am not a fan of liberalism.
Liberalism has a different approach to international relations.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The political party's core belief in individual rights and free markets is known as ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Political ____ emphasizes the importance of individual rights and the overall equality of all citizens today.
Word Origin & History
Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Whether some distant cousin really belongs to the extended family of liberalisms is a matter of healthy dispute."
— 2009 January 25, Timothy Garton Ash, “A Liberal Translation”, in The New York Times:
"This poses obvious problems for statistical inference in that what may appear as ‘declines’ in non-white racial liberalism may actually be due to increases in representation of non-black racial/ethnic minorities whose racial attitudes are more conservative."
— 2022 May 2, Zachary Goldberg, “Explaining Shifts in White Racial Liberalism: The Role of Collective Moral Emotions and Media Effects”, in Georgia State University, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2025, page 142:
"But liberalism has no obvious answers to the biggest problems we face: ecological collapse and technological disruption."
— 2018, Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The political party's core belief in individual rights and free markets is known as ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Political ____ emphasizes the importance of individual rights and the overall equality of all citizens today.