Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Civil liberty   /sˈɪvəl lˈɪbərti/   Listen
noun
Liberty  n.  (pl. liberties)  
1.
The state of a free person; exemption from subjection to the will of another claiming ownership of the person or services; freedom; opposed to slavery, serfdom, bondage, or subjection. "But ye... caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection." "Delivered fro the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God."
2.
Freedom from imprisonment, bonds, or other restraint upon locomotion. "Being pent from liberty, as I am now."
3.
A privilege conferred by a superior power; permission granted; leave; as, liberty given to a child to play, or to a witness to leave a court, and the like.
4.
Privilege; exemption; franchise; immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant; as, the liberties of the commercial cities of Europe. "His majesty gave not an entire county to any; much less did he grant... any extraordinary liberties."
5.
The place within which certain immunities are enjoyed, or jurisdiction is exercised. (Eng.) "Brought forth into some public or open place within the liberty of the city, and there... burned."
6.
A certain amount of freedom; permission to go freely within certain limits; also, the place or limits within which such freedom is exercised; as, the liberties of a prison.
7.
A privilege or license in violation of the laws of etiquette or propriety; as, to permit, or take, a liberty. "He was repeatedly provoked into striking those who had taken liberties with him."
8.
The power of choice; freedom from necessity; freedom from compulsion or constraint in willing. "The idea of liberty is the idea of a power in any agent to do or forbear any particular action, according to the determination or thought of the mind, whereby either of them is preferred to the other." "This liberty of judgment did not of necessity lead to lawlessness."
9.
(Manege) A curve or arch in a bit to afford room for the tongue of the horse.
10.
(Naut.) Leave of absence; permission to go on shore.
At liberty.
(a)
Unconfined; free.
(b)
At leisure.
Civil liberty, exemption from arbitrary interference with person, opinion, or property, on the part of the government under which one lives, and freedom to take part in modifying that government or its laws.
Liberty bell. See under Bell.
Liberty cap.
(a)
The Roman pileus which was given to a slave at his manumission.
(b)
A limp, close-fitting cap with which the head of representations of the goddess of liberty is often decked. It is sometimes represented on a spear or a liberty pole.
Liberty of the press, freedom to print and publish without official supervision.
Liberty party, the party, in the American Revolution, which favored independence of England; in more recent usage, a party which favored the emancipation of the slaves.
Liberty pole, a tall flagstaff planted in the ground, often surmounted by a liberty cap. (U. S.)
Moral liberty, that liberty of choice which is essential to moral responsibility.
Religious liberty, freedom of religious opinion and worship.
Synonyms: Leave; permission; license. Liberty, Freedom. These words, though often interchanged, are distinct in some of their applications. Liberty has reference to previous restraint; freedom, to the simple, unrepressed exercise of our powers. A slave is set at liberty; his master had always been in a state of freedom. A prisoner under trial may ask liberty (exemption from restraint) to speak his sentiments with freedom (the spontaneous and bold utterance of his feelings). The liberty of the press is our great security for freedom of thought.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Civil liberty" Quotes from Famous Books



... reinstatement of that "peculiar institution," even if it could be effected by the lifting of a finger. "The cause we fought for and our brothers died for," says Professor Gildersleeve of Baltimore, "was the cause of civil liberty, not the cause of human slavery.... If the secrets of all hearts could have been revealed, our enemies would have been astounded to see how many thousands and tens of thousands in the Southern States felt the crushing burden and the awful responsibility of the ...
— America To-day, Observations and Reflections • William Archer
... old Negro did not have true moral training, he did have positive training in the opposite direction. For the very system under which he lived was a training in evil. His ancestors had been stolen; he himself was stolen; his civil liberty was stolen. Could he form any adequate conception of property rights? And is it now a matter of surprise to us that the old man sometimes did a little stealing himself in order to relieve a hungry stomach? He was not taught the sacredness ...
— Twentieth Century Negro Literature - Or, A Cyclopedia of Thought on the Vital Topics Relating - to the American Negro • Various
... utility of some acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the singular frame and polity of that land, which is governed by this system of laws. A land, perhaps the only one in the universe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the constitution[b]. This liberty, rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatever the laws permit[c]; which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action, ...
— Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the First • William Blackstone
... his interest, he was at first the enemy, and at last the father, of the Roman world. [26] When he framed the artful system of the Imperial authority, his moderation was inspired by his fears. He wished to deceive the people by an image of civil liberty, and the armies by an ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 1 • Edward Gibbon
... Lyon's judges, and a jury of all nations, are objects of national fear. We agree in all the essential ideas of your letter. We agree particularly in the necessity of some reform, and of some better security for civil liberty. But perhaps we do not see the existing circumstances in the same point of view. There are many considerations dehors of the State, which will occur to you without enumeration. I should not apprehend them, if all was sound within. But there is a most respectable part ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson
... Like the ponderous step of the statue of the commander in the Don Juan of Moliere, its approach is audible above civil commotion, above the shrieks of frenzied orators, the howlings of a demoralized clergy, and the sound of battle. It brings with it the destruction of civil liberty, and ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various
... Scottish pastor such scenes are classic, grand even in a higher sense than those of Marathon or Thermopylae—for it was the immutable and holy spirit which was there kindled, and formed into a flame, that finally won for Scotland not only the blessings of civil liberty, but the triumphs ...
— Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume VI • Various


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com