liberal

Etymology

The adjective is from Old French liberal, from Latin līberālis (“befitting a freeman”), from līber (“free”); it is attested since the 14th century. The noun is first attested in the 1800s.

adj

1. (now rare outside set phrases) Pertaining to those arts and sciences the study of which is considered to provide general knowledge, as opposed to vocational/occupational, technical or mechanical training.
   He had a full education studying the liberal arts.
   1983, David Leslie Wagner, The Seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages:
   Americans remain enamored with Europe's ability to produce the consequential thought for America. It was the same in nearly every liberal field. Education sought its roots in such Europeans as Froebel, Frobenius, and Rousseau. Political science tried to connect to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, and Otto von Bismarck, for instance. Economics copied the thought of Adam Smith, […] 1997, Gordon D. Morgan, Toward an American Sociology: Questioning the European Construct, page 45
   2008, Donal G. Mulcahy, The Educated Person: Toward a New Paradigm for Liberal Education, →ISBN:
2. Generous; permitting liberty; willing to give unsparingly.
   He was liberal with his compliments.
   Indeed, the Government has been very liberal in the expenditure of public money 1899, J. M. Baltimore, “Pacific Coast Light Service”, in Overland Monthly, volume 33
   When he shows improvement she is liberal with her praise and then moves on to the next set of skills to be learnt. 2005, John Gardner, Assessment and Learning, page 50
   Queen Isabella was already being called Santa Isabella by many of her subjects because she was liberal with her alms. 2007, Helena Page Schrader, The English Templar, page 309
   Was it because the believers were so liberal with their possessions that God was so liberal with his grace? 2010, Simon Guillebaud, More Than Conquerors: A Call to Radical Discipleship, page 142
   Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. 2013-06-14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18
3. Ample, abundant; generous in quantity.
   Add a liberal sprinkling of salt.
   For this reason a liberal amount of piping should be used. If a liberal supply of piping is provided at first, the first cost will of course be greater, but the extra expenditure is called for but once. 1896, Ice and refrigeration, volume 11, page 93
   The result was usually that such helpers got a liberal sprinkling of mud over their clothing. 2009, R. Furman Kenney, Chesterville: The Village at the End of the Road, page 102
   Rose put a steaming cup of mint tea in front of me and spooned a liberal helping of honey into it. 2011, Marlene Perez, Dead Is Not an Option, page 37
4. (obsolete) Unrestrained, licentious.
5. Widely open to new ideas, willing to depart from established opinions or conventions; permissive.
   Her parents had liberal ideas about child-rearing.
6. (politics) Open to political or social changes and reforms associated with either classical or modern liberalism.

noun

1. One with liberal views, supporting individual liberty (see Wikipedia's article on Liberalism).
2. (US) Someone with progressive or left-wing views; one with a left-wing ideology.
3. A supporter of any of several liberal parties.
4. (UK) One who favors individual voting rights, human and civil rights, and laissez-faire markets (also called "classical liberal"; compare libertarian).