- lib´er|al|ness
- lib|er|al «LIHB uhr uhl, LIHB ruhl», adjective, noun.–adj.1. a) generous; having or giving freely: »
a liberal donation. A liberal giver gives much. The bearers…are persons to whom you cannot be too liberal (Dickens). Wisely liberal of his money for comfort and pleasure (John Ruskin).
SYNONYM(S): bountiful. b) plentiful; abundant: »We put in a liberal supply of fuel for the winter.
SYNONYM(S): ample, large.2. a) tolerant; not narrow in one's ideas and views; broad-minded: »a liberal thinker, liberal theology.
b) not strict; not rigorous: »a liberal interpretation of a rule.
3. favoring progress and reforms: »a liberal political program.
4. giving the general thought; not a word-for-word rendering; broad and sympathetic as opposed to literal and pedantic: »a liberal translation.
5. of or having to do with the liberal arts or a liberal education.6. Obsolete. a) free from restraint; free in speech or action. b) licentious.–n.a person favorable to progress and reforms.╂[< Old French liberal, learned borrowing from Latin līberālis befitting free men < līber free]–lib´er|al|ly, adverb.–lib´er|al|ness, noun.Lib|er|al «LIHB uhr uhl, LIHB ruhl», adjective, noun.–adj.of or belonging to a political party, especially the Liberal Party of Great Britain, that favors progress and reforms.–n.a member of a Liberal Party.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.
