Liberalism

How to spell liberalism

10 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce liberalism

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does liberalism mean?

1. nounA political and social philosophy that emphasises individual freedom, civil rights, and representative government.
2. nounA general willingness to accept new ideas, behaviour, or opinions that differ from one's own.

Liberalism in a sentence

• The professor traced the roots of modern liberalism to eighteenth-century thinkers.

• The school was praised for the liberalism of its admissions policy.

• His essay compared economic liberalism with the older conservative tradition.

• A certain liberalism in management let employees experiment freely.

Where does liberalism come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin adjective liber, meaning 'free' (as opposed to enslaved), the same root that gave us 'liberty' and 'liberate'. From liber came liberalis, which described what was 'befitting a free person', including the generous and refined education thought suitable for free citizens, the so-called liberal arts. English borrowed 'liberal' through Old French in the medieval period, and for centuries it carried the older sense of 'generous' or 'open-handed'. The abstract noun 'liberalism' was coined much later, around the early nineteenth century, to name the political philosophy that prized individual freedom, civil rights, and limited government. The spelling stays close to its source: the steady run of liber-al-ism rewards anyone who remembers the underlying Latin word for 'free'.

How the word is built

• liber- (free)
• -al (relating to)
• -ism (doctrine, system of belief)