liberty

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   freedom of choice

   liberty of opinion

2. 2
   noun

   The condition of being free.

   The army is here, your liberty is assured.

3. 3
   noun

   The condition of being free from imprisonment, slavery or forced labour.

   The prisoners gained their liberty from an underground tunnel.

4. 4
   noun

   The condition of being free to act, believe or express oneself as one chooses.

   Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

5. 5
   noun

   Freedom from excessive government control.

   The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.

6. 6
   noun

   A short period when a sailor is allowed ashore.

   We're going on a three-day liberty as soon as we dock.

7. 7
   noun

   A breach of social convention.

   You needn't take such liberties.

8. 8
   name

   A unisex given name.

   Then last came Liberty. What a name, Mason always thought. It was an invention of her mother's―a flighty woman who had run away from Porter with a hippie stereo salesman eight and a half years ago and discovered immediately afterward that she was two months pregnant.

Etymology

From Middle English liberte, from Old French liberté, from Latin libertas (“freedom”), from liber (“free”); see liberal.