liberaladjective
uk/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/us/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/liberal adjective (SOCIETY)
C1 respecting and allowing many different types of beliefs or behaviour:
a liberal society/attitude
Her parents were far more liberal than mine.
Opposite
illiberal
More examples
- 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.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Open-minded
- broad-minded
- enlightened
- freethinker
- inclusive
- liberalize
- live
- live and let live idiom
- non-judgmental
- open mind
- open-minded
- permissive society
- receptive
- tolerance
- tolerant
liberal adjective (POLITICS)
C1 (of a political party or a country) believing in or allowing more personal freedom and development towards a fairer sharing of wealth and power within society
Examples
- Dole portrayed the president in campaign speeches as a 'closet liberal'.
- 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.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Politics - general words
- a political football idiom
- apolitical
- communism
- con
- conservative
- leftist
- Leninism
- Lib Dem
- Liberal Democrats
- Maoism
- politicize
- politics
- polity
- populism
- populist
- the National Front
- the Third Way
- Tory
- tour of duty
- usurp
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liberal adjective (GENEROUS)
formal giving or given in a generous way:
He was very liberal with the wine.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Plenty and abundant
- abound
- abound in/with sth
- abundance
- abundant
- ample
- aplenty
- bounty
- fruitfulness
- galore
- generosity
- generous
- handsome
- long on sth and short on sth idiom
- manifold
- prolific
- rich
- richness
- superabundant
- teeming
- wealth
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liberal adjective (NOT EXACT)
not exact; without attention to or interest in detail:
a liberal interpretation of the law
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Wrong
- aberrant
- abnormal
- amiss
- anomaly
- awry
- bark
- flawed
- gross
- grossly
- have no business doing sth idiom
- imprecise
- impropriety
- invalid 1
- irregular
- misspeak
- mistaken
- off beam
- quarrel with sth
- speak
- speak too soon idiom
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liberalism
noun [ U ] uk/ˈlɪb.ər.əl.ɪ.zəm/us/ˈlɪb.ər.əl.ɪ.zəm/
liberality
noun [ U ] uk/ˌlɪb.ərˈæl.ə.ti/us/ˌlɪb.əˈræl.ə.t̬i/formal
liberally
adverb uk/ˈlɪb.ər.əl.i/us/ˈlɪb.ər.əl.i/formal
Apply the cream liberally to the affected area.
liberalnoun [ C ]
uk/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/us/ˈlɪb.ər.əl/someone who respects many different types of beliefs or behaviour:
He's a good old-fashioned liberal.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Open-minded
- broad-minded
- enlightened
- freethinker
- inclusive
- liberalize
- live
- live and let live idiom
- non-judgmental
- open mind
- open-minded
- permissive society
- receptive
- tolerance
- tolerant