Illiberal

English

Adjective

Illiberal (comparative more Illiberal, superlative most Illiberal)

1. restrictive to individual choice and freedom; authoritarian.
   • 2005, Washington Post, February 20,

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

   • 2004, Jerusalem Post, December 15,

     Behind Europe's commitment to liberal democracy lurks an illiberal tradition. Every time freedom has failed in Europe, it is to that tradition - of violent repression, totalitarianism, xenophobia, and intolerance - that Europeans have reverted.

2. narrow-minded; bigoted
3. ungenerous, stingy

Adverbs for Illiberal

fanatically; narrowly; bigotedly; stingily; meanly; basely; selfishly; cruelly; parsimoniously; sordidly; uncharitably; necessarily; temperamentally; innately; naturally; habitually; prejudicially; provincially; dogmatically; stupidly; unreasonably; penuriously; shabbily; exceedingly; remarkably; notoriously.

Thesaurus

authoritarian, avaricious, biased, bigot, bigoted, borne, chauvinist, cheap, close, closed, closefisted, constricted, cramped, creedbound, deaf, deaf to reason, doctrinaire, dogmatist, fanatic, fanatical, grudging, hardfisted, hidebound, insular, intolerant, jaundiced, jingo, little, little-minded, male chauvinist, mean, mean-minded, mean-spirited, mingy, miserly, narrow, narrow-hearted, narrow-minded, narrow-souled, narrow-spirited, near, nearsighted, niggardly, one-sided, opinionated, paltry, parochial, partial, partisan, penny-pinching, petty, pig, pinchfisted, pinching, prejudiced, provincial, purblind, racist, rigid, rigorous, save-all, sexist, shortsighted, small, small-minded, stingy, straitlaced, stringent, stuffy, superpatriot, tight, tightfisted, ultranationalist, uncatholic, uncharitable, unchivalrous, ungenerous, unliberal

Etymology

From il- +‎ liberal.