word-vault/dist/data/cards/li/liberal.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "liberal",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "academic": true,
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "willing to understand and respect other people’s behaviour, opinions, etc., especially when they are different from your own; believing people should be able to choose how they behave",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "liberal attitudes/views/opinions"
                },
                {
                    "text": "My parents were very liberal when we were growing up."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He is relatively liberal on social issues."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her attitudes are fairly liberal."
                },
                {
                    "text": "His later films reflect the more liberal values of the 1960s."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her parents are very liberal and allow her a lot of freedom."
                },
                {
                    "text": "In some countries there is a more liberal attitude to euthanasia."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be"],
                "adverb": ["extremely", "fairly", "very"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "following or supporting political policies that encourage social change and support the sharing of wealth more equally",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Even in famously liberal New York her views were considered too radical."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Liberal and conservative pundits alike predicted disaster for the campaign."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The media was accused by right-wing commentators of a liberal bias."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He accused them of espousing liberal ideas from the left of the party."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Politics"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "having or relating to political and social beliefs that support individual freedom and rights, democracy and free enterprise (= businesses competing against each other with little government control)",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Some politicians want more liberal trade relations with Europe."
                },
                {
                    "text": "liberal democracy"
                },
                {
                    "text": "liberal theories"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a liberal politician"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a challenge to the post-Cold-War liberal consensus"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a broadly liberal policy programme"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a broadly liberal set of policies"
                },
                {
                    "text": "comparatively liberal in trade matters"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Politics"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be"],
                "adverb": ["comparatively", "relatively", "broadly"],
                "preposition": ["on"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "connected with the British Liberal Party in the past, or a Liberal Party in another country",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "generous; given in large amounts",
            "sensetop": "liberal (with something)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "She is very liberal with her money."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I think Sam is too liberal with his criticism *(= he criticizes people too much)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "International investors should be allowed more liberal access to our markets to invest in them."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We ate cake with liberal amounts of whipped cream."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She's very liberal with her advice!"
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "lavish",
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "become"],
                "adverb": ["fairly", "very"],
                "preposition": ["with"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 6,
            "definition": "a liberal education is about increasing somebody’s general knowledge and experience rather than particular skills",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a liberal education"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 7,
            "definition": "not completely accurate or exact",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a liberal translation of the text"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a **liberal interpretation** of the law"
                }
            ],
            "synonyms": "free"
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈlɪbərəl/",
                "audio": "li/liberal/liberal__gb_4.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈlɪbərəl/",
                "audio": "li/liberal/liberal__us_1_rr.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: via Old French from Latin liberalis, from liber ‘free (man)’. The original sense was ‘suitable for a free man’, hence ‘suitable for a gentleman’ (one not tied to a trade), surviving in liberal arts. Another early sense ‘generous’ (compare with sense (4)) gave rise to an obsolete meaning ‘free from restraint’, leading to sense (1) (late 18th cent.)."
}