Standard Lemma guide

liberalism

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlɪ.b(ə.)ɹə.lɪz.əm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: L IH1 B ER2 AH0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being liberal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An economic ideology in favour of laissez faire and the free market (related to economic liberalism).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: economics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A school of international relations that emphasises cooperation (such as trade) between polities, as an alternative to power politics, and the geopolitically transformative role of democratisation, as opposed to inherent structural material factors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Qualifier: international relations

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an economic theory advocating free competition and a self-regulating market

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: economic theory

6

noun

Meaning 6

a political orientation that favors social progress by reform and by changing laws rather than by revolution

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: political orientation, ideology, political theory

Narrower terms: neoliberalism

History

Etymology

Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

115 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: لِيبْرَالِيَّة (librāliyya) — quality of being liberal
  • Catalan: liberalisme — quality of being liberal
  • Hakka Chinese: 自由主義 /自由主义 (chhṳ-yù chú-ngi) — quality of being liberal
  • Chinese: 自由主義 /自由主义 (chū-iû chú-gī) — quality of being liberal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自由主義 /自由主义 (zìyóuzhǔyì) — quality of being liberal
  • Estonian: liberalism — quality of being liberal
  • Finnish: vapaamielisyys — quality of being liberal
  • French: libéralisme — quality of being liberal
  • Georgian: ლიბერალობა (liberaloba) — quality of being liberal
  • Georgian: ლიბერალიზმი (liberalizmi) — quality of being liberal
  • German: Liberalismus — quality of being liberal
  • Greek: λιμπεραλισμός (limperalismós) — quality of being liberal
  • Ancient Greek: φιλελευθερισμός (phileleutherismós) — quality of being liberal
  • Hebrew: ליברליזם — quality of being liberal
  • Italian: liberalismo — quality of being liberal
  • Japanese: 自由主義 (jiyūshugi) — quality of being liberal
  • Korean: 자유주의 (jayujuui) — quality of being liberal
  • Marathi: उदारमतवाद (udārmatvād) — quality of being liberal
  • Polish: liberalizm — quality of being liberal
  • Portuguese: liberalismo — quality of being liberal
  • Russian: либерали́зм (liberalízm) — quality of being liberal
  • Spanish: liberalismo — quality of being liberal
  • Swedish: liberalism — quality of being liberal
  • Ukrainian: лібералізм (liberalizm) — quality of being liberal
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa tự do — quality of being liberal
  • Albanian: liberalizëm — political movement
  • Arabic: لِيبْرَالِيَّة (librāliyya) — political movement
  • Aragonese: liberalismo — political movement
  • Armenian: լիբերալիզմ (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Armenian: ազատականություն (azatakanutʻyun) — political movement
  • Asturian: lliberalismu — political movement
  • Azerbaijani: liberalizm — political movement
  • Belarusian: лібералі́зм (libjeralízm) — political movement
  • Bengali: উদারনীতিবাদ (udarnitibad) — political movement
  • Bulgarian: либерали́зъм (liberalízǎm) — political movement
  • Burmese: လစ်ဘရယ်ဝါဒ (lacbha.raiwada.) — political movement
  • Catalan: liberalisme — political movement
  • Hakka Chinese: 自由主義 /自由主义 (chhṳ-yù chú-ngi) — political movement
  • Chinese: 自由主義 /自由主义 (chū-iû chú-gī) — political movement
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自由主義 /自由主义 (zìyóuzhǔyì) — political movement
  • Czech: liberalizmus — political movement
  • Danish: liberalisme — political movement
  • Dutch: liberalisme — political movement
  • Esperanto: liberalismo — political movement
  • Estonian: liberalism — political movement
  • Faroese: liberalisma — political movement
  • Finnish: liberalismi — political movement
  • French: libéralisme — political movement
  • Galician: liberalismo — political movement
  • Georgian: ლიბერალიზმი (liberalizmi) — political movement
  • German: Liberalismus — political movement
  • Greek: φιλελευθερισμός (fileleftherismós) — political movement
  • Greek: λιμπεραλισμός (limperalismós) — political movement
  • Hebrew: לִיבֶּרָלִיזְם (liberalízm) — political movement
  • Hindi: उदारतावाद (udārtāvād) — political movement
  • Hungarian: liberalizmus — political movement
  • Icelandic: frjálshyggja — political movement
  • Ido: liberalismo — political movement
  • Indonesian: liberalisme — political movement
  • Irish: liobrálachas — political movement
  • Italian: liberalismo — political movement
  • Jamaican Creole: liberalizim — political movement
  • Japanese: 自由主義 (jiyūshugi) — political movement
  • Kazakh: либерализм (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Khmer: សេរីនិយម (seerəy niyum) — political movement
  • Korean: 자유주의 (jayujuui) — political movement
  • Kyrgyz: либерализм (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Lao: ເສຣີນິຍົມ (sē rī ni nyom) — political movement
  • Lao: ເສລີນິຍົມ (sē lī ni nyom) — political movement
  • Latin: līberālismus — political movement
  • Latvian: liberālisms — political movement
  • Lithuanian: liberalizmas — political movement
  • Macedonian: либерализам (liberalizam) — political movement
  • Malagasy: liberalisma — political movement
  • Malay: liberalisme — political movement
  • Mirandese: liberalismo — political movement
  • Mongolian: либерализм (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Norwegian Bokmål: liberalisme — political movement
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: liberalisme — political movement
  • Persian: لیبرالیسم (liberâlism) — political movement
  • Polish: liberalizm — political movement
  • Portuguese: liberalismo — political movement
  • Romanian: liberalism — political movement
  • Russian: либерали́зм (liberalízm) — political movement
  • Serbo-Croatian: либералѝзам — political movement
  • Serbo-Croatian: liberalìzam — political movement
  • Slovak: liberalizmus — political movement
  • Slovene: liberalizem — political movement
  • Spanish: liberalismo — political movement
  • Swedish: liberalism — political movement
  • Tajik: либерализм (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Thai: เสรีนิยม (sěe-rii-ní-yom) — political movement
  • Turkish: liberalizm — political movement
  • Turkmen: liberalizm — political movement
  • Ukrainian: лібералі́зм (liberalízm) — political movement
  • Uzbek: liberalizm — political movement
  • Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa tự do — political movement
  • Welsh: rhyddfrydiaeth — political movement
  • Yiddish: ליבעראַליזם (liberalizm) — political movement
  • Armenian: լիբերալիզմ (liberalizm) — economic theory
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自由主義 /自由主义 (zìyóuzhǔyì) — economic theory
  • Czech: liberalizmus — economic theory
  • Finnish: liberalismi — economic theory
  • Galician: liberalismo — economic theory
  • Greek: φιλελευθερισμός (fileleftherismós) — economic theory
  • Greek: λιμπεραλισμός (limperalismós) — economic theory
  • Indonesian: liberalisme — economic theory
  • Polish: liberalizm — economic theory
  • Portuguese: liberalismo — economic theory
  • Russian: либерали́зм (liberalízm) — economic theory
  • Serbo-Croatian: либералѝзам — economic theory
  • Serbo-Croatian: liberalìzam — economic theory
  • Spanish: liberalismo — economic theory
  • Swedish: nyliberalism — economic theory
  • Swedish: marknadsliberalism — economic theory
Real reading context

liberalism in complete knowledge articles