liberty
pronunciation
How to pronounce liberty in British English:
UK [ˈlɪbəti]
How to pronounce liberty in American English:
US [ˈlɪbərti]
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- Noun:
- immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence
- freedom of choice
- personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression
- leave granted to a sailor or naval officer
- an act of undue intimacy
Word Origin
- liberty (n.)
- late 14c., "free choice, freedom to do as one chooses," from Old French liberté "freedom, liberty, free will" (14c.), from Latin libertatem (nominative libertas) "freedom, condition of a free man; absence of restraint; permission," from liber "free" (see liberal)The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right. [Learned Hand, 1944]Nautical sense of "leave of absence" is from 1758. To take liberties "go beyond the bounds of propriety" is from 1620s. Sense of "privileges by grant" (14c.) led to sense of "a person's private land" (mid-15c.), which yielded sense in 18c. in both England and America of "a district within a county but having its own justice of the peace," and also "a district adjacent to a city and in some degree under its municipal jurisdiction" (as in Northern Liberties of Philadelphia). Also compare Old French libertés "local rights, laws, taxes."
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. This common liberty results from the nature of man .
- 2. The great ideal of the age of classical liberalism was liberty the freedom to make the plans for one 's own life .
- 3. Fighting for liberty creates an unyielding addiction .
- 4. It is 90 minutes of seemingly unfettered liberty .
- 5. Is lady liberty about to float away ?