Liberal

Lib´er`al Pronunciation: lĭb´ẽr`al

Free by birth; hence, befitting a freeman or gentleman; refined; noble; independent; free; not servile or mean; as, a liberal ancestry; a liberal spirit; liberal arts or studies.

Bestowing in a large and noble way, as a freeman; generous; bounteous; open-handed; as, a liberal giver.

Infinitely good, and of his good
As liberal and free as infinite.

- Milton.

Bestowed in a large way; hence, more than sufficient; abundant; bountiful; ample; profuse; as, a liberal gift; a liberal discharge of matter or of water.

His wealth doth warrant a liberal dower.

- Shak.

Not strict or rigorous; not confined or restricted to the literal sense; free; as, a liberal translation of a classic, or a liberal construction of law or of language.

Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish; enlarged in spirit; catholic.

Free to excess; regardless of law or moral restraint; licentious.

Not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the constitution or administration of government; having tendency toward democratic or republican, as distinguished from monarchical or aristocratic, forms; as, liberal thinkers; liberal Christians; the Liberal party.

I confess I see nothing liberal in this " order of thoughts," as Hobbes elsewhere expresses it.

- Hazlitt.

The liberal arts
See under Art.

Liberal education
education that enlarges and disciplines the mind and makes it master of its own powers, irrespective of the particular business or profession one may follow.

One who favors greater freedom in political or religious matters; an opponent of the established systems; a reformer; in English politics, a member of the Liberal party, so called. Cf. Whig.

Noun	1.	liberal - a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties Synonyms: progressive Antonyms: conservative, conservativist - a person who has conservative ideas or opinions
	2.	liberal - a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets
Adj.	1.	liberal - showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant of his opponent's opinions" Synonyms: large-minded, tolerant, broad
	2.	liberal - having political or social views favoring reform and progress
	3.	liberal - tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition Antonyms: conservative - resistant to change
	4.	liberal - given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather" Synonyms: bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, giving, openhanded, handsome, freehanded, big
	5.	liberal - not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem" Synonyms: loose, free

Gospel side, abounding, advanced, affluent, all-sufficing, amiable, aplenty, benevolent, big, big person, bighearted, bottomless, bounteous, bountiful, broad-gauge person, broad-minded, cantorial side, charitable, chivalrous, copious, cordial, counterclockwise, diffuse, disinterested, dispassionate, ecumenicist, effuse, eleemosynary, elevated, epidemic, exalted, exhaustless, extensive, exuberant, fair, far-embracing, far-extending, far-flung, far-flying, far-going, far-ranging, far-reaching, fat, fertile, flexible, flush, forbearing, free, free lance, free spirit, free trader, freehanded, freehearted, freethinker, freethinking, friendly, full, galore, genial, giving, gracious, great, great of heart, greathearted, handsome, hearty, heroic, high, high-minded, hospitable, humanistic, idealistic, impartial, in plenty, in quantity, independent, indiscriminate, individualist, individualistic, indulgent, inexhaustible, isolationist, knightly, larboard, large-scale, largehearted, latitudinarian, left, left hand, left of center, left wing, left-hand, left-hand side, left-wing, left-winger, left-wingish, leftist, lenient, levorotatory, liberalist, liberalistic, libertarian, libertine, lofty, loose, luxuriant, magnanimous, many, maximal, much, mugwump, munificent, near, near side, neighborly, neutral, nigh, noble, noble-minded, nonpartisan, numerous, on the left, open, openhanded, openhearted, opulent, overflowing, philanthropic, plenitudinous, plenteous, plenty, port, port tack, portside, prevailing, prevalent, princely, prodigal, productive, profuse, profusive, progressive, progressivist, progressivistic, radical, rampant, receptive, reformer, reformist, replete, rich, rife, riotous, rugged individualist, running over, sinister, sinistral, sinistrocerebral, sinistrocular, sinistrogyrate, sinistrorse, stintless, sublime, superabundant, sweeping, teeming, third force, third world, unbigoted, ungrudging, unjaundiced, unopinionated, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, verso, warm, warmhearted, wealthy, welcoming, welfare stater, well-found, well-furnished, well-provided, well-stocked, wholesale, wide, wide-extended, wide-extending, wide-ranging, wide-reaching, wide-stretching, widespread, wrong side

Translate Liberal to Spanish, Translate Liberal to German, Translate Liberal to French