freedom

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Personal liberty

Nouns

1. freedom, liberty, independence; self-government or -determination; license, permission; facility; immunity, exemption; release, parole, probation, discharge; civil liberties, civil or human rights; free speech, freedom of speech or of the press; individualism, self-dependence or -reliance, discretion.

2. (area of free movement) scope, range, latitude, play; free hand or rein; free or full play, full scope; [full] swing, leeway, breathing room or space, elbow room, margin, rope, wide berth; carte blanche, blank check. Informal, rope enough to hang oneself. Slang, room to swing a cat.

3. (act or means of freeing) franchise; emancipation (see liberation); enfranchisement; autonomy, self-government, self-determination; liberalism, free trade; nonintervention, noninterference, Monroe Doctrine; Bill of Rights, Magna Carta; glasnost; women's liberation.

4. (free person) free[d]man or -woman; burgess, franklin; free agent; individualist; emancipated woman.

5. (something unencumbered) free land, freehold; allodium; mortmain. Slang, loose cannon.

Verbs

1. be free, have scope, have the run of, have one's own way, have a will of one's own, have one's fling; do what one likes, wishes, pleases, or chooses, see one's way clear; go at large, feel at home; fend for oneself; paddle one's own canoe; stand on one's rights; be one's own man; shift for oneself, stand on one's own [two] feet, hoe one's own row; take a liberty; make free with, make oneself at home; take leave, take French leave; go scot-free. Informal, please or suit oneself. Slang, get down, let it all hang out.

2. set free, liberate, release, let go; parole; permit (see permission); allow or give scope to, open the door; give [free] rein; give a horse his head; make free of; give the freedom of; give the franchise, give one carte blanche or a blank check; enfranchise; laissez-faire; live and let live; leave to oneself, leave alone, let alone; deregulate, decontrol; liberalize. Informal, give one leeway, give one enough rope, give one the run of, get off one's case or back. Slang, butt out, back off.

3. (remove restraints) unfetter, untie, loose, unchain, unshackle, unbind; disengage, disentangle, clear, extricate, unloose. Slang, cut one a little slack.

Adjectives

1. free, free as air; independent, at large, loose, scot-free; left alone, left to oneself, on the loose; free and easy; at one's ease; dégagé, quite at home; wanton, rampant, irrepressible, unvanquished; freed, liberated, rid of, hands-off; freeborn; out from under; autonomous, freehold, allodial, on one's own [account or hook], under one's own steam; in the clear (see acquittal).

2. (free to move) in full swing, uncaught, unconstrained, unbuttoned, unconfined, unrestrained, unchecked, unprevented, unhindered, unobstructed, unbound, uncontrolled, untrammeled, unsubject, ungoverned, unenslaved, unenthralled, unchained, unshackled, unfettered, unreined, unbridled, uncurbed, unmuzzled; catch as catch can, freewheeling, [footloose and] fancy-free, carefree; out of control; unrestricted, unlimited, unconditional; absolute; discretionary, optional (see choice); exempt; unforced, uncompelled; unbiased, spontaneous. Slang, off the hook.

Adverbs — ad libitum, at will, freely, etc., without let or hindrance, no strings attached; on one's own, of one's own free will. Informal, all by one's lonesome.

Phrases — live free or die; don't tread on me.

Quotations — Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free (Emma Lazarus), Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving (Samuel Johnson), Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains (Jean-Jacques Rousseau), Give me liberty, or give me death! (Patrick Henry), I am condemned to be free (Jean-Paul Sartre), Freedom and slavery are mental states (Mahatma Gandhi).

Antonyms, see subjection, restraint.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Political liberty]

Syn. liberty, independence, sovereignty, autonomy, democracy, self-government, self-rule, emancipation, liberation, enfranchisement, franchise, citizenship, right, civil liberty, autarky, self-determination; see also liberty 4 .

Ant. slavery*, bondage, repression.

2. [Exemption from necessity]

Syn. privilege, immunity, liberty, license, prerogative, right, carte blanche, indulgence, unrestraint, leisure, facility, range, latitude, scope, bent, play, own accord, free rein, full play, laissez faire, leeway, run, plenty of rope*.

Ant. restraint*, constraint, hindrance.

3. [Natural ease and facility]

Syn. readiness, forthrightness, spontaneity; see ease 2 , informality .

4. [Liberty of action]

Syn. right to decide, freedom of choice, option, license; see choice 1 .

Syn.- freedom , the broadest in scope of these words, implies the absence of hindrance, restraint, confinement, or repression [freedom of speech ] ; liberty , often interchangeable with freedom , strictly connotes past or potential restriction, repression, etc. [ civil liberties] ; license implies freedom that consists in vioLating the usual rules, laws, or practices, either by consent [ poetic license] or as an abuse of liberty [ slander is license of the tongue ]

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

liberty, independence, autonomy, sovereignty, self-government, emancipation, free will, license, carte blanche, privilege, *free reign, immunity, exemption, latitude, range, unrestraint. Room to enlarge.''—C.A. Bartol. The right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.''—John Diefenbaker.

ANT.: slavery, bondage, restriction, confinement

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Departure from normal rules or procedures: liberty, license. See RESTRAINT. 2. The state of not being in confinement or servitude: emancipation, liberation, liberty, manumission. See FREE. 3. The condition of being politically free: autonomy, independence, independency, liberty, self-government, sovereignty. See DEPENDENCE, FREE. 4. Ease of or space for movement: elbowroom, play. See TIGHTEN.