illiberal

1. 1

   Restricting or failing to sufficiently promote individual choice and freedom.

   • Unless the administration compels all workers to invest in life cycle accounts — an illiberal but nonetheless sensible idea — this particular danger cannot be eliminated.
2. 2

   Narrow-minded; bigoted.

   • Accordingly, that form of Popery, which prevailed in Scotland, was of the moſt bigotted and illiberal kind.
   • While they maintained a denominational character, they were in nowise illiberal, and set up no religious test for entrance.
3. 3

   Ungenerous, stingy.archaic

   • ...the final offer made on the part of the King was that the Queen should have an allowance of 52,000 pounds a year— not, one would have thought, a very illiberal allowance for the daughter of a small German prince...
4. 4

   Not adhering to either liberalism or neoliberalism.

   • In the general atmosphere of lawlessness and arbitrariness the final outcome may be less harsh and unpleasant than might at first have been expected — though it can be a lot worse if you are an Albanian "irredentist", for example, or a Croa

syn. mercantilist · protectionist · procontrol

ant. liberal

1. 1

   One opposed to liberal principles.

   • Yes, illiberals argue that Poorman's privation bestows upon him the inalienable right to receive assets (coercively expropriated from Richman). These same illiberals usually claim to believe that all tranquil citizens have equal rights.