EGAVE

liberal

Academic Word List, sublist 5.

About 30.23 uses per million words.

Meaning

  1. adjective Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
    He was liberal with his compliments.
  2. adjective Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
    Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
  3. adjective Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
    Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
  4. adjective Unrestrained, licentious.
  5. adjective Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is personal development rather than functional learning. Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is to cultivate and develop wise, capable and well-rounded people who are thus free of mental constraint and hindrance. Pertaining to those arts and sciences the study of which is considered to provide general knowledge, as opposed to vocational/occupational, technical or mechanical training; usually found in the phrase "liberal arts".
    He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
  6. adjective Pertaining to a type of education the purpose of which is to cultivate and develop wise, capable and well-rounded people who are thus free of mental constraint and hindrance.
  7. adjective Pertaining to those arts and sciences the study of which is considered to provide general knowledge, as opposed to vocational/occupational, technical or mechanical training; usually found in the phrase "liberal arts".
    He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
  8. adjective Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical liberalism or "modern liberalism"/progressivism.

Similar words

progressive neoliberal reformist liberalistic welfarist socialized broad tolerant broad-minded giving

Often followed by

arts party and education democracy in democratic government or

Word family

Liberal Liberals liberalisation liberalise liberalised liberalises liberalising liberalism liberalization liberalize

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