Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to liberalize

to liberalize

12 6.3
To make laws or rules less strict to allow more freedom
  • verb
  • /ˈlɪbərəˌlaɪz/
translation icon : liberalizar
  • The government decided to liberalize the laws regarding immigration, making it easier for people to settle in the country.
  • liberalize trade
  • liberalize the economy
  • liberalize policy

The other was the neoliberal capitalist argument that if you want to be a successful economy, then you need to liberalise the economy.

Examples

  • Second, for domestic and external considerations, these countries have had to liberalize their economies.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Furthermore, the state should also liberalize its relations with many state-sponsored organizations.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Its purpose was to liberalize and expand world trade.

    Battle in Seattle (2007)

  • Third, the advocates realize that the state can liberalize Chinese politics gradually.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The GATT's central aim, of course, is to liberalize trade in goods.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Yet, even the Syrian government has shown some signs of liberalizing its economy, if not its politics.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The best policy for the existing regime is to liberalize and open its policy-making process bit by bit.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The key to growth, it argues, lies in liberalizing the financial sector.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Since 1987, the KMT regime has undertaken major steps to liberalize society and to implement democratic reform.

    Academic text (1992)

  • National economies could not flourish without a liberalized polity that ensured the protection of foreign investors.

    Academic text (2013)

Synonyms

to loosen
vsto liberalize
83 3.3

Make rules or limits less strict

is an intentional change to laws and systems to make them more open
to relax
vsto liberalize
26 3.2

To make rules less strict

focuses on formal changes to laws and systems to increase openness
to deregulate
vsto liberalize
25 5.8

To remove rules that the government makes for an industry or market

eases legal strictness without fully removing regulations

Antonyms

to restrict
361 3.1

Limit how much people can use or access something

to tighten
93 3.5

To make rules or limits stricter

How Restrictive

to soften
50 3.1
to relax
26 3.2
to liberalize
12 6.3
to deregulate
25 5.8
to abolish
112 4.1

Surface Forms

liberalize infinitive
liberalized past
liberalized past participle
liberalizing present participle
liberalizes third person singular

Morphology

liberalize = liberal (transparent) = liberal + ize

A productive formation: adding the verb-forming suffix '-ize' to 'liberal' yields the verb 'to make more liberal' in a straightforward way.

Etymology

Liberalize comes from liberal, from the Latin root liber meaning 'free', the same root as liberty. So, to liberalize something is to make its laws or rules more 'free' or 'open' by reducing strict limits.