ˈlibə(r)d.ē, -)tē, -i noun
( -es )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English liberte, from Middle French liberté, from Latin libertat-, libertas, from liber free + -tat-, -tas -ty — more at liberal
1. : the quality or state of being free:
a.
(1) : freedom from usually external restraint or compulsion : the power to do as one pleases
(2) : a condition of legal nonrestraint of natural powers — compare privilege 1e
b. : exemption from subjection to the will of another claiming ownership or services — compare bondage , serfdom , slavery
c. : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control
d. : the power of choice : freedom from necessity : freedom from compulsion or constraint in the act of willing something
e.
(1) : civil liberty
(2) : political liberty
(3) : individual liberty
(4) : personal liberty
2. : a figure representing a personification of liberty (as on a coin)
3.
a. : a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (as from a sovereign power) : privilege , exemption , franchise
b. : leave , permission
granted the boy liberty to go out
c. : a place within which certain immunities are enjoyed or jurisdiction is exercised ; specifically : a district of some British cities within which the exclusive privilege or franchise of executing legal process was by royal grant vested in one or more persons exempting them from the jurisdiction of the sheriff
d. : permission to go freely within the limits
given the liberty of the house
allowed only the liberty of his prison cell
4. : action or an action or license that goes beyond a usually acceptable, proper, or wise limit: as
a.
(1) : action or an action or privilege in or as if in violation of the laws of strict etiquette or propriety : familiarity
guilty of many liberties in his dealings with his superiors
take undue liberty with a stranger
(2) : an undue intimacy : an improper familiarity especially with another's person
b. : an action that goes beyond the limits of prudence
took liberties with his health
c. : action or an action that goes beyond the limits of strict accuracy or conformity (as to a rule)
a certain liberty in his translation
took liberties in the way he played the game
5. : a short authorized absence from naval duty usually for less than 48 hours — compare leave
6. : a strong blue that is redder and deeper than sèvres and redder and darker than cerulean blue (sense 1b) — called also regatta
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- at liberty