1. Indépendance. Vivre en liberté.
2. Droit. Liberté de contredire.
3. Latitude. Liberté de ses mouvements.
4. Permission.
5. Désinvolture. Prendre des libertés.
ETYM AS. freódôm; freófree + -dom. Related to Free, and -dom.
The condition of being free; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.
Personal liberty to act according to the individual will and without any physical or other form of restraint. The absence of restraint is known in philosophical terms as negative freedom; a concrete example is the freedom of a prisoner released from jail. Positive freedom refers to the state of self-mastery or self-realization; for example, breaking an addictive habit or conquering shyness.
John Locke, J S Mill and Thomas Hobbes are among philosophers who hold the negative view of freedom; Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Georg Hegel and the British neo-Hegelians —F H Bradley (1846–1924), T H Green (1836–1882)— hold a positive view of freedom. The negative view of freedom tends to be held by those philosophers who think that the state is no more than the sum of the individuals composing it (mechanism). The positive view of freedom tends to be held by those philosophers who regard the state as an end to which its citizens are the means (organicism).
ETYM Old Eng. liberte, French liberté, from Latin libertas, from liber free. Related to Liberal.
1. Freedom of choice.
2. Personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression.
In its medieval sense, a franchise, or collection of privileges, granted to an individual or community by the king, and the area over which this franchise extended.
ETYM as. right. Related to Right.
1. The hand that is on the right side of the body; SYN. right hand.
2. A turn to the right.
3. Anything in accord with principles of justice; SYN. rightfulness.
4. Location near or direction toward the right side; i.e. the side to the south when a person or object faces east.
5. An abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature.
6. The conservative faction of a political party; SYN. right wing.
7. (Frequently plural) The interest possessed by law or custom in some intangible thing.