liberty

[lib-er-tee] /ˈlɪb ər ti/
noun, plural liberties.
1.
freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control.
2.
freedom from external or foreign rule; independence.
3.
freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
4.
freedom from captivity, confinement, or physical restraint:
The prisoner soon regained his liberty.
5.
permission granted to a sailor, especially in the navy, to go ashore.
6.
freedom or right to frequent or use a place:
The visitors were given the liberty of the city.
7.
unwarranted or impertinent freedom in action or speech, or a form or instance of it:
to take liberties.
8.
a female figure personifying freedom from despotism.
Idioms
9.
at liberty,
  1. free from captivity or restraint.
  2. unemployed; out of work.
  3. free to do or be as specified:
    You are at liberty to leave at any time during the meeting.
Origin
1325-75; Middle English liberte < Middle French < Latin lībertās, equivalent to līber free + -tās -ty2
Synonyms
4. liberation. See freedom. 6. franchise, permission, license, privilege, immunity.

Liberty

[lib-er-tee] /ˈlɪb ər ti/
noun
1.
a town in W Missouri.
Examples from the web for liberty
  • Although she posed fully clothed, the artist took the liberty of undraping her.
  • It is the only monument known to have been erected by the sons of liberty.
  • It is the length of a liberty ship with a form of the ship being built.
  • In grand theft auto advance, liberty city is said to be affected by bubonic plague.
  • liberty will ultimately make all men rich it will not make all men equally rich.
  • I allude to the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty.
British Dictionary definitions for liberty

liberty

/ˈlɪbətɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
the power of choosing, thinking, and acting for oneself; freedom from control or restriction
2.
the right or privilege of access to a particular place; freedom
3.
(often pl) a social action regarded as being familiar, forward, or improper
4.
(often pl) an action that is unauthorized or unwarranted in the circumstances: he took liberties with the translation
5.
  1. authorized leave granted to a sailor
  2. (as modifier): liberty man, liberty boat
6.
at liberty, free, unoccupied, or unrestricted
7.
take liberties, to be overfamiliar or overpresumptuous (with)
8.
take the liberty, to venture or presume (to do something)
Word Origin
C14: from Old French liberté, from Latin lībertās, from līber free
Word Origin and History for liberty
n.

late 14c., "free choice, freedom to do as one chooses," from Old French liberté "freedom, liberty, free will" (14c.), from Latin libertatem (nominative libertas) "freedom, condition of a free man; absence of restraint; permission," from liber "free" (see liberal)

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right. [Learned Hand, 1944]
Nautical sense of "leave of absence" is from 1758. To take liberties "go beyond the bounds of propriety" is from 1620s. Sense of "privileges by grant" (14c.) led to sense of "a person's private land" (mid-15c.), which yielded sense in 18c. England and America of "a district within a county but having its own justice of the peace," and also "a district adjacent to a city and in some degree under its municipal jurisdiction" (e.g. Northern Liberties of Philadelphia). Also cf. Old French libertés "local rights, laws, taxes."

Slang definitions & phrases for liberty

liberty

Related Terms

at liberty


Idioms and Phrases with liberty

liberty

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