Illiberal
adjective
Not open to new ideas or willing to change, not generous.
The company has been criticized for its illiberal approach to innovation.
Often appears as...
- illiberal attitude
- illiberal policy
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Against the principles of liberty.
The illiberal law was widely criticized for restricting civil liberties.
Often appears as...
- illiberal law
- illiberal regime
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not giving much money or support.
She accused the government of being illiberal in their benefits to the poor.
Often appears as...
- illiberal spending
- illiberal benefits
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not open to new ideas or willing to change, not generous.
The company has been criticized for its illiberal approach to innovation.
Often appears as...
- illiberal attitude
- illiberal policy
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Against the principles of liberty.
The illiberal law was widely criticized for restricting civil liberties.
Often appears as...
- illiberal law
- illiberal regime
Usage tips
Disapproving
adjective
Not giving much money or support.
She accused the government of being illiberal in their benefits to the poor.
Often appears as...
- illiberal spending
- illiberal benefits
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/2Resistant to Change
Used to describe someone or something that does not adapt or is not modern.
His illiberal views did not align with industry innovations.
Pro Tip 2/2Opposing Novelty
Reflects a negative attitude towards new ideas or creative thinking.
An illiberal approach often hampers creative progress.
Pro Tip 1/2Resistant to Change
Used to describe someone or something that does not adapt or is not modern.
His illiberal views did not align with industry innovations.
Pro Tip 2/2Opposing Novelty
Reflects a negative attitude towards new ideas or creative thinking.
An illiberal approach often hampers creative progress.
Pro Tip 1/2Resistant to Change
Used to describe someone or something that does not adapt or is not modern.
His illiberal views did not align with industry innovations.
Pro Tip 2/2Opposing Novelty
Reflects a negative attitude towards new ideas or creative thinking.
An illiberal approach often hampers creative progress.
Compare with
authoritarianbigotconformconservativeintolerantoppressivereactionarytraditional
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Video examples
Dambisa Moyo: Is China...
is that we need to first establish a middle class that is able to hold the government accountable. But perhaps it's also telling us that we should be worried about going around the world and shoehorning democracy, because ultimately we run the risk of ending up with illiberal democracies, democracies that in some sense
Video examples
Dambisa Moyo: Is China...
is that we need to first establish a middle class that is able to hold the government accountable. But perhaps it's also telling us that we should be worried about going around the world and shoehorning democracy, because ultimately we run the risk of ending up with illiberal democracies, democracies that in some sense
Example 1 of 1
Quote examples
Bari Weiss
American Editor
The leaders of the Women's March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.
Quote examples
Nick Clegg
British Politician
We have got to make sure there is proper independent scrutiny and accountability for people in the press, just as there should be in any other industry where things go wrong. But let's not try and think it is for politicians or governments to tell people what they stick in newspapers. That is deeply illiberal.
Quote examples
P. Chidambaram
Indian Politician
I firmly believe that the Constitution is the most powerful challenge to illiberal tendencies. If the Constitution is followed in letter and spirit and if the laws are made in the spirit in which Constitution was made, liberties can indeed be protected.
Quote examples
Carl Clinton Van Doren
American Critic
The two most common charges against the older fiction, that it pleased wickedly and that it taught nothing, had broken down before the discovery, except in illiberal sects, that the novel is fitted both for honest use and for pleasure.
Quote examples
Terry Eagleton
English Critic
One side-effect of the so-called war on terror has been a crisis of liberalism. This is not only a question of alarmingly illiberal legislation, but a more general problem of how the liberal state deals with its anti-liberal enemies.
Quote examples
Kirsten Powers
American Author
When illiberal feminists aren't delegitimizing female dissenters from their worldview as fake women, they are portraying them in such a hyper-sexualized way that they are reduced to nonhuman objects.
Quote examples
Joe Sestak
American Politician
I want to restore U.S. leadership within a rules-based liberal world order that collectively holds nations accountable for their illiberal behavior, whether in foreign or domestic spheres.
Quote examples
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
British Statesman
In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter.
Quote examples
Munira Mirza
British Public Servant
The politically correct illiberal left far too often side with the extremists.
Quote examples
Richard Dawkins
English Scientist
What is illiberal is not persuasion but imposition of one's views.
Quote examples
Bari Weiss
American Editor
The leaders of the Women's March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.
Quote examples
Nick Clegg
British Politician
We have got to make sure there is proper independent scrutiny and accountability for people in the press, just as there should be in any other industry where things go wrong. But let's not try and think it is for politicians or governments to tell people what they stick in newspapers. That is deeply illiberal.
Quote examples
P. Chidambaram
Indian Politician
I firmly believe that the Constitution is the most powerful challenge to illiberal tendencies. If the Constitution is followed in letter and spirit and if the laws are made in the spirit in which Constitution was made, liberties can indeed be protected.
Quote examples
Carl Clinton Van Doren
American Critic
The two most common charges against the older fiction, that it pleased wickedly and that it taught nothing, had broken down before the discovery, except in illiberal sects, that the novel is fitted both for honest use and for pleasure.
Quote examples
Terry Eagleton
English Critic
One side-effect of the so-called war on terror has been a crisis of liberalism. This is not only a question of alarmingly illiberal legislation, but a more general problem of how the liberal state deals with its anti-liberal enemies.
Quote examples
Kirsten Powers
American Author
When illiberal feminists aren't delegitimizing female dissenters from their worldview as fake women, they are portraying them in such a hyper-sexualized way that they are reduced to nonhuman objects.
Quote examples
Joe Sestak
American Politician
I want to restore U.S. leadership within a rules-based liberal world order that collectively holds nations accountable for their illiberal behavior, whether in foreign or domestic spheres.
Quote examples
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
British Statesman
In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal, and so ill-bred, as audible laughter.
Quote examples
Munira Mirza
British Public Servant
The politically correct illiberal left far too often side with the extremists.
Quote examples
Richard Dawkins
English Scientist
What is illiberal is not persuasion but imposition of one's views.
Example 1 of 10
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