adj · noun · 4 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈliːbɹə/
General-American:/ˈlibɹə/
Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
homophone: Libra
rhymes with -iːbɹə
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈliːbɹeɪ/
General-American:/ˈlibɹeɪ/
rhymes with -iːbɹeɪ
1
adj
Meaning 1
Especially of the will: free, independent, unconstrained.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
adj
Meaning 2
With very few limitations on distribution or the right to access the source code to create improved versions, but not necessarily free of charge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: free, free as in speech, free as in freedom
Antonyms: none provided
3
adj
Meaning 3
Not enslaved (of a black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical, not-comparable
Examples
For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A free (not enslaved) black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
Examples
For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
The obsolete “unconstrained” sense is borrowed from French libre (“at liberty”; “free” as in “clear”, “vacant”, “without obligation”), from Latin līber (“free, unrestricted”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h1lewdh- (“people”), whence obsolete English lede (“person(s)”), English leud, and German Leute. The software and the unenslaved senses are either borrowed from the above French, or from its Spanish cognate libre, of the same meaning and Latin etymon.
Across languages
Translations
42 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
حُرّ
(ḥurr)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Asturian:
llibre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Basque:
libre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Breton:
frank
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Bulgarian:
свободен
(svoboden)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Catalan:
lliure
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Chinese Mandarin:
自由
(zìyóu)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Czech:
svobodný
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Danish:
fri
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Dutch:
vrij
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Esperanto:
libera
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Finnish:
vapaa
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
French:
libre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Galician:
libre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
German:
freie
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Bavarian German:
freie
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Hebrew:
חָפְשִׁי
(khofshí)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Hungarian:
szabad
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Icelandic:
frjáls
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Ido:
libera
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Indonesian:
bebas
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Interlingua:
libere
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Irish:
saor
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Italian:
libero
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Korean:
자유
(jayu)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Latvian:
brīvā
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Malay:
bebas
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Norwegian Bokmål:
fri
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Norwegian Nynorsk:
fri
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Occitan:
liure
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Polish:
wolny
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Portuguese:
livre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Romanian:
liber
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Russian:
свободный
(svobodnyj)
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Serbo-Croatian:
сло̏бодан
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Serbo-Croatian:
slȍbodan
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Slovak:
slobodný
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Slovene:
prosto
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Spanish:
libre
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Swedish:
fri
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Tagalog:
malayang
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
Turkish:
özgür
— (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
