libertarian

[lib-er-tair-ee-uh n] /ˌlɪb ərˈtɛər i ən/
noun
1.
a person who advocates liberty, especially with regard to thought or conduct.
2.
a person who maintains the doctrine of free will (distinguished from necessitarian).
adjective
3.
advocating liberty or conforming to principles of liberty.
4.
maintaining the doctrine of free will.
Origin
1780-90; libert(y) + -arian
Related forms
libertarianism, noun
antilibertarian, adjective, noun
Examples from the web for libertarian
  • libertarian progressivism distrusts big increases in government spending because that spending is likely to favor the privileged.
  • Other than a few references to my libertarian ideological positions, none of the personal elements are all that controversial.
  • Some people think that the libertarian viewpoint is undone by an increasing acceptance that people are not all that rational.
  • It's an ethic that libertarian industry leaders embrace openly.
  • The details of its plans remain uncertain, though the libertarian in me is instinctively sceptical.
  • In fact, even a civil libertarian might prefer a world where wiretaps are possible.
  • Economists and ideologues prefer to play with a cartoon libertarian vs a cartoon socialist.
  • On this libertarian view, the terms of a marriage contract should be the partners' business, not the state's.
  • What these laws, based on civil libertarian principles, overlook is that in mental illness the diseased organ is the brain.
  • But this was hardly a libertarian paradise gone wrong.
British Dictionary definitions for libertarian

libertarian

/ˌlɪbəˈtɛərɪən/
noun
1.
a believer in freedom of thought, expression, etc
2.
(philosophy) a believer in the doctrine of free will Compare determinism
adjective
3.
of, relating to, or characteristic of a libertarian
Derived Forms
libertarianism, noun
Word Origin
C18: from liberty
Word Origin and History for libertarian
n.

1789, "one who holds the doctrine of free will" (opposed to necessitarian), from liberty (q.v.) on model of unitarian, etc. Political sense of "person advocating liberty in thought and conduct" is from 1878. As an adjective by 1882. U.S. Libertarian Party founded in Colorado, 1971.