libertarian

CEFRC1

/ˌlɪbəˈtɛə̯ɹi.ən/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A person who strongly supports individual freedom and limited government.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Supporting individual freedom and limited government.

Examples

  • You're not a libertarian if you support prisons and borders.

  • I am not a libertarian.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /-ɾi.ən/
  • /-ɾɪ.ən/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A believer in the freedom of thinking beings to choose their own destiny (the doctrine of free will) as opposed to those who believe the future is predetermined (the doctrine of necessity).

  2. One who advocates liberty, either generally or in relation to a specific issue.

  3. An Araucarian.

More examples

In context

  • I am a libertarian.

  • He has libertarian views.

  • civil libertarian

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

A blank believes in maximum personal freedom and minimal government intervention.

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

Nearby

Origin

noun

The noun is derived from liber(ty) + -arian (suffix denoting an advocate of or believer in something). The adjective is derived from the noun. sense development The word was first attested in English in 1789 in William Belsham’s Essays: see the quotation. This was contrasted with necessitarian, in the context of free will, and was not used in the more frequently encountered modern sense. Compare French libertaire (“person with extreme left-wing beliefs, anarchist”), from liberté (“freedom”) + -aire (suffix forming nouns). Libertaire is derived from Latin libertas. The French word was first attested in a May 1857 letter by the French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque (1821–1865) to the anarc...