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What is "liberal"

Crossword clues for liberal

liberal
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
liberal
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
liberal arts
Liberal Democrats
liberal studies
right-wing/liberal/economic etc think tank
▪ a leading member of a Tory think tank
socialist/democratic/liberal ideals
▪ He is committed to democratic ideals such as majority rule.
the Conservative/Liberal Democrat/Socialist etc leader (=leader of a political party)
▪ the Conservative leader, David Cameron
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
approach
▪ This liberal approach to Scripture is dealt with more fully in a later chapter.
▪ Elsewhere there is greater flexibility, less certainty and a more liberal approach to economic and political diversity.
▪ Among organisations that would like to see a more liberal approach are student broadcasters and hospital radio stations.
▪ While the Cold War period was dominated by realism, liberal approaches continued to be developed.
attitude
▪ This liberal attitude has its benefits for the university.
▪ Where inmates were once locked up for 23 hours everyday a more liberal attitude now prevails.
▪ They're hardly likely to have the most tolerant or liberal attitudes are they!
▪ He has such expertise and a liberal attitude to such matters.
democracy
▪ In this image the state in liberal democracies is separated from its society by only a thin membrane of formal legality.
▪ These rights to additional forms of participation and opposition in the political process seem an essential element of a liberal democracy.
▪ Bureaucratization and centralization were also tied to the growth of liberal democracy and socialism in intended and unintended ways.
▪ Contemporary elite theorists have argued that these conditions are not remotely met in liberal democracies.
▪ Classical elite theorists had sought to show that liberal democracy was a utopian ideal incapable of realization.
▪ Revolutions are only contemplated by cadres with intense preferences: most workers in liberal democracies will not vote for a revolution.
▪ Pluralists deny that higher social classes monopolize power and believe that in liberal democracies the wishes of the people determine government policy.
▪ Synods were not like the parliaments of liberal democracies.
democrat
▪ He says that the council has already had extra funding, how much more do the labour and liberal democrat councillors want?
▪ They are all Republicans except my stepmother, who is a liberal Democrat.
▪ The liberal democrats and labour say their budget was the only way to prevent drastic cuts.
▪ In 1994, the now-retired liberal Democrat, Rep.
▪ Some cuts, but steering a way from too many job losses is the option favoured by the liberal democrats.
▪ Mosk, though a loyal liberal Democrat, demurred, citing the right of free political association.
▪ The liberal democrats wanted a more modest overspend ... seven million.
▪ A liberal Democrat from San Francisco, Sen.
education
▪ The second thing that some universities do is provide liberal education for its own sake.
▪ He has received the advantage of a liberal education, and possesses a very extensive degree of legal knowledge.
▪ There are vocational arguments for traditional liberal education.
▪ But pure liberal education exists to civilise its beneficiaries rather than to fit them for employment.
▪ Can society afford the luxury of providing young children with the beginnings of a liberal education?
▪ But Newman was right to warn of the utilitarian threat to liberal education.
▪ The task of providing liberal education belongs chiefly to the humanities.
interpretation
▪ Yet the liberal interpretation of divorce laws appears to have led to the alarming trends already observed.
▪ The traditional liberal interpretation is rooted in an approach to history fundamentally at odds with that of Soviet historiography.
▪ The middle classes According to the liberal interpretation, as we have seen, such liberalization was under way.
▪ It is notable too that this liberal interpretation is proposed by the jurist, and merely adopted from him by the emperor.
▪ These conclusions have led revisionists to cast doubt on three of the assumptions underlying the liberal interpretation.
▪ This, of course, relies on a liberal interpretation of the coins from Barton Farm.
principle
▪ The Basic Law strongly reflects the liberal principles of the limitation of state activity and the autonomy of the economy.
▪ The pronunciamientos of 1824-20 were a combination of officer discontents, thwarted ambition, and liberal principle.
reform
▪ Yet the prospects of this constituency making a major political impact and extracting liberal reforms from the regime appear poor.
▪ He also announced liberal reforms including greater press freedom and the abolition of laws governing subversion.
▪ Of course this liberal reform would mean a dramatic increase in the cost of the probation service.
▪ Middle-class pressure for liberal reforms was ineffectual.
▪ In the light of revisionist work it is difficult to treat Nicholas's resistance to liberal reform as a matter of chance or historical accident.
▪ So long as radicals were on the rampage, staying in the centre meant leaning ever farther towards liberal reform.
▪ No piecemeal liberal reform will make one iota of difference.
society
▪ In a liberal society we assume that it can not be objectively defined.
▪ This distinction reflects the separation of the state from the individual in a liberal society.
▪ However, in a liberal society a democratic system of government is not considered sufficient by itself to legitimate public power.
▪ This was the liberal society and state.
▪ But this, as I have indicated, does not in all cases make for the construction of a more liberal society.
▪ This is a central value in a liberal society.
▪ Unlike the natural sciences, in a liberal society the social ones did not even have the stimulus of technological progress.
state
▪ So came what I am calling the liberal state.
▪ For decades prior to 1776, men had been catching the vision of the liberal state.
▪ The liberal state simply mirrors these external systems of domination.
▪ For conservatives it represented the vanity of social engineering and the breakdown of the liberal state in the face of impossible demands.
▪ So democracy came as a late addition to the competitive market society and the liberal state.
▪ One of the contradictions of the liberal state is that capitalism has required rational administration and greater state intervention.
▪ The liberal state fulfilled its own logic.
▪ In the liberal state, and competitive capitalism, it is the system of representative institutions.
tradition
▪ One was the simple protection of individual rights against an encroaching state, the basic defence of rights in the liberal tradition.
▪ He has an impressive grounding in Western thought and argues that book-banning is an honorable part of the Western liberal tradition.
▪ In these circumstances it was easier for a liberal tradition to develop.
use
▪ Inside, liberal use of first-class photographs, imaginative illustrations and visual pages enhance the articles and invite you to read them.
▪ It promises liberal use of time-lapse photography, aerial camera work and feature-film-quality musical scores.
▪ Certainly liberal use of candle grease is in order.
▪ In all these cases the treatment is simple: put back the skin fats by the liberal use of moisturising creams.
value
▪ But the report's biggest confusion is over whether the state has the right to impose western liberal values on minorities.
▪ Thus, the Amish espouse the best of both conservative and liberal values.
▪ A kinder, gentler place shot sweetly through with liberal values?
▪ Anti-discrimination measures are, of course, reflective of liberal values, many of which are in fact currently under attack.
▪ Although support for some of the liberal values is confined to a minority, it is a growing one.
view
▪ But here, too, recent analysis presents a bleaker picture than that of the traditional liberal view.
▪ She was easy to work with, and her liberal views and conciliatory style were similar to his own.
▪ In the liberal view, the historical process is altogether too rich and complex to be reduced to class struggle.
▪ Q.. You have a reputation for publishing liberal views.
▪ Second, Marxism is a challenge to the liberal view of economics.
▪ They rejected the liberal view that the commune was a barrier to economic progress.
▪ In the classical liberal view trade unions, like business monopolies, are impediments to competition among producers in the free marketplace.
wing
▪ Mr Massow said the controversy had pitted the Tory leader, William Hague, against his own party's liberal wing.
▪ Of all the federal departments, Treasury is not one where we have learned to find the liberal wing of our presidencies.
▪ His departure was widely portrayed as a defeat for the liberal wing of the party.
▪ Zwygart, a teacher and a member of parliament, was described as being on the party's liberal wing.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ liberal immigration policies
▪ a liberal interpretation of the original play
▪ a liberal view of homosexuality
▪ He has quite liberal views for someone of his generation.
▪ I was fortunate enough to have very liberal parents.
▪ In a liberal society you may have the right to express your own beliefs, but not necessarily to cause offence to other people.
▪ In the 1840s, President Herrera promoted a policy of gradual liberal reform in Mexico.
▪ Some liberal Democrats want to introduce stricter price controls.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Firmly distanced from the levers of power, the liberal parties were unable to carry conviction among their potential constituents.
▪ If its people called you a liberal subversive in the pay of effete capitalist Western powers it was regarded as fair comment.
▪ In order to reveal these foundations we must therefore examine the main tenets of conservative and liberal political thought.
▪ Last year, Working Assets distributed $ 2. 15 million to 36 liberal non-profits, as earmarked by individual customers.
▪ My parents are broadminded, liberal and understanding to the extent that I probably could never match.
▪ Pius remained implacably opposed to the assumptions of liberal bourgeois civilization.
▪ The Monopolies Commission took the line that the benefits of a more liberal regime outweighed any drawbacks.
▪ While the Cold War period was dominated by realism, liberal approaches continued to be developed.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
white
▪ They are generally in opposition to white liberals, environmentalists and some gay and lesbian political powers.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Failure to correct them only fuels the right-wing demands that obliterate the very protections that liberals cherish.
▪ Most liberals, like other feminists, believe that schools are partly responsible for instilling sexist attitudes into children.
▪ That decision did not win her much support from liberals and moderates.
▪ The liberals were democrats, while the afrancesados believed in reform from above.
▪ The beauty of this plan is that it would appeal to both conservatives and liberals.
▪ The number of committed liberals among the middle-ranking landowners who dominated the zemstvos was not large.
▪ You know, I feel much closer to Meany, whom I despise, than a lot of the liberals.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Liberal

Liberal \Lib"er*al\ (l[i^]b"[~e]r*al), a. [F. lib['e]ral, L. liberalis, from liber free; perh. akin to libet, lubet, it pleases, E. lief. Cf. Deliver.]

  1. 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. `` Liberal education.''
    --Macaulay. `` A liberal tongue.''
    --Shak.

  2. Bestowing in a large and noble way, as a freeman; generous; bounteous; open-handed; as, a liberal giver. `` Liberal of praise.''
    --Bacon.

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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

  6. Free to excess; regardless of law or moral restraint; licentious. `` Most like a liberal villain.''
    --Shak.

  7. 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.

    Note: Liberal has of, sometimes with, before the thing bestowed, in before a word signifying action, and to before a person or object on which anything is bestowed; as, to be liberal of praise or censure; liberal with money; liberal in giving; liberal to the poor.

    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.

    Syn: Generous; bountiful; munificent; beneficent; ample; large; profuse; free.

    Usage: Liberal, Generous. Liberal is freeborn, and generous is highborn. The former is opposed to the ordinary feelings of a servile state, and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc. The latter expresses that nobleness of soul which is peculiarly appropriate to those of high rank, -- a spirit that goes out of self, and finds its enjoyment in consulting the feelings and happiness of others. Generosity is measured by the extent of the sacrifices it makes; liberality, by the warmth of feeling which it manifests.

Liberal

Liberal \Lib"er*al\, n. 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.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
liberal

mid-14c., "generous," also, late 14c., "selfless; noble, nobly born; abundant," and, early 15c., in a bad sense "extravagant, unrestrained," from Old French liberal "befitting free men, noble, generous, willing, zealous" (12c.), from Latin liberalis "noble, gracious, munificent, generous," literally "of freedom, pertaining to or befitting a free man," from liber "free, unrestricted, unimpeded; unbridled, unchecked, licentious," from PIE *leudh-ero-, probably originally "belonging to the people" (though the precise semantic development is obscure; compare frank (adj.)), and a suffixed form of the base *leudh- "people" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic ljudu, Lithuanian liaudis, Old English leod, German Leute "nation, people;" Old High German liut "person, people").\n

\nWith the meaning "free from restraint in speech or action," liberal was used 16c.-17c. as a term of reproach. It revived in a positive sense in the Enlightenment, with a meaning "free from prejudice, tolerant," which emerged 1776-88.\n

\nIn reference to education, explained by Fowler as "the education designed for a gentleman (Latin liber a free man) & ... opposed on the one hand to technical or professional or any special training, & on the other to education that stops short before manhood is reached" (see liberal arts). Purely in reference to political opinion, "tending in favor of freedom and democracy" it dates from c.1801, from French libéral, originally applied in English by its opponents (often in French form and with suggestions of foreign lawlessness) to the party favorable to individual political freedoms. But also (especially in U.S. politics) tending to mean "favorable to government action to effect social change," which seems at times to draw more from the religious sense of "free from prejudice in favor of traditional opinions and established institutions" (and thus open to new ideas and plans of reform), which dates from 1823. Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]

liberal

1820, "member of the Liberal party of Great Britain," from liberal (adj.). Used early 20c. of less dogmatic Christian churches; in reference to a political ideology not conservative or fascist but short of socialism, from c.1920.\n\nThis is the attitude of mind which has come to be known as liberal. It implies vigorous convictions, tolerance for the opinions of others, and a persistent desire for sound progress. It is a method of approach which has played a notable and constructive part in our history, and which merits a thorough trial today in the attack on our absorbingly interesting American task.

[Guy Emerson, "The New Frontier," 1920]

Related phrases:
Wiktionary
liberal

a. 1 (context now rare outside of set phrases English) Pertaining to those arts and sciences the study of which was considered "worthy of a free man" (as opposed to (term servile English), (term lang=en vocational), (term mechanical English)); worthy, befitting a gentleman. 2 generous, willing to give unsparingly;. n. 1 One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/liberalism). 2 (context US English) Someone left-wing; one with a left-wing ideology. 3 A supporter of any of several liberal parties. 4 (context UK English) One who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights, and laissez-faire markets (qualifier: also called "classical liberal"; compare libertarian).

Related phrases:
WordNet
liberal

  1. adj. showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant of his opponent's opinions" [syn: broad, large-minded, tolerant]

  2. having political or social views favoring reform and progress

  3. tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition [ant: conservative]

  4. 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" [syn: big, bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, freehanded, handsome, giving, openhanded]

  5. not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem" [syn: free, loose]

liberal

  1. n. a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties [syn: progressive] [ant: conservative]

  2. a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets

Related phrases:
Gazetteer
Liberal, MO -- U.S. city in Missouri
Population (2000): 779
Housing Units (2000): 361
Land area (2000): 0.837014 sq. miles (2.167855 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.006604 sq. miles (0.017103 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 0.843618 sq. miles (2.184958 sq. km)
FIPS code: 41906
Located within: Missouri (MO), FIPS 29
Location: 37.558860 N, 94.520546 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 64762
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Liberal, MO
Liberal
Liberal, KS -- U.S. city in Kansas
Population (2000): 19666
Housing Units (2000): 7014
Land area (2000): 11.058466 sq. miles (28.641294 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.138334 sq. miles (0.358283 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 11.196800 sq. miles (28.999577 sq. km)
FIPS code: 39825
Located within: Kansas (KS), FIPS 20
Location: 37.043418 N, 100.928133 W
ZIP Codes (1990): 67901
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Liberal, KS
Liberal
Wikipedia
Liberal

Liberal may refer to:

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "liberal".

The new liberal constitution of Venezuela having gone into effect with the universal acquiescence of the people, the government under it has been recognized and diplomatic intercourse with it has opened in a cordial and friendly spirit.

The acquisition of knowledge, the exercise of our reason or fancy, and the cheerful flow of unguarded conversation, may employ the leisure of a liberal mind.

Having seen Jacopo fairly out of the harbor, Dantes proceeded to make his final adieus on board The Young Amelia, distributing so liberal a gratuity among her crew as to secure for him the good wishes of all, and expressions of cordial interest in all that concerned him.

The adulterating ingredient is usually pipe-clay, of which a liberal portion is substituted for sugar.

Arnold, was a writer and historian whose energetic advocacy of liberal ideas and international, liberal movements soon attracted the attention of sympathetic and hostile readers.

Bela Imredy, a liberal, mercantilist, that the Munich Conference and the First Viennese Arbitrage decisions took place.

Then House majority leader Dick Armey, during a campaign event for Katherine Harris in Florida on September 20, 2002, was asked why the Jewish community is divided between liberals and conservatives.

Some four thousand Communist officials and a great many Social Democrat and liberal leaders were arrested, including members of the Reichstag, who, according to the law, were immune from arrest.

While properly regulating and restricting the food of the invalid when necessary, they also recognize the fact that many are benefited by a liberal diet of the most substantial food, as steaks, eggs, oysters, milk, and other very nutritious articles of diet, which are always provided in abundance for those for whom they are suited.

August 3, the master sleuth of the airwaves had become a socially involved liberal very much like Tony Boucher and Manny Lee.

Eleanor Clift explained why liberals had been completely wrong about everything they ever said about the Cold War.

Perhaps intimate acquaintance had also tended to enable him to appreciate, with greater accuracy, the meretricious genius and artificial tastes of his copartner in The Liberal.

The first number of The Liberal, containing The Vision of Judgment, was received soon after the copartnery had established themselves at Genoa, accompanied with hopes and fears.

My hostess and I had made our shrewd business agreement on the basis of a simple cold luncheon at noon, and liberal restitution in the matter of hot suppers, to provide for which the lodger might sometimes be seen hurrying down the road, late in the day, with cunner line in hand.

A sour wench, as thrifty as the dasht was liberal, and will no doubt start by letting half of us go and cutting the pay of the rest.