neoliberal

noun

neo·​lib·​er·​al ˌnē-ō-ˈli-b(ə-)rəl 

plural neoliberals

: a liberal who supports or promotes free market competition and sustained economic growth through capitalism as a means for achieving progress

Neoliberals have a wide variety of views on political and social matters … but they are at one in seeing the free market as the fountainhead of human freedom.

—John Gray

broadly : a liberal who de-emphasizes traditional liberal doctrines in order to seek progress by more pragmatic methods

… he and other so-called neoliberals are often accused of being too willing to compromise sacred Democratic Party principles in the name of what works.

—Ken Auletta

neoliberal adjective

In terms of policy, the pursuit of a neoliberal economic development agenda (deregulation, marketization, privatization) has transformed … the Egyptian economy …

—Mona Atia

neoliberalism

ˌnē-ō-ˈli-b(ə-)rə-ˌli-zəm 

noun

… the Democratic version of neoliberalism forged in the 1970s that came to fruition in the Clinton era has had an enduring influence. … The mainstream Democratic Party … remained committed to growth and investment …, public-private partnership, especially with the tech industry, and nonprofits and foundations as the main mechanism for addressing problems of inequality.

—Lily Geismer

Examples of neoliberal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The governing alliance between the far-right, who wage culture wars, and neoliberals, who believe the only legitimate culture is the one that survives in the market, threatens to drain Swedish cultural life of its diversity. —Annika Pham, Variety, 23 Jan. 2025

Some of Trump’s second-term nominees, including for labor secretary and head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, are hardly small-government neoliberals. —David Leonhardt, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025

Good free-market neoliberals had historically disdained this idea, believing government attempts to meddle in the economy would have bad results. —Andrew Prokop, Vox, 15 Oct. 2024

The cause is compelling enough to transcend the left-right binary, capacious enough to welcome everyone from leftists and progressives to neoliberals and movement conservatives. —Marina Bolotnikova, Vox, 7 Aug. 2024

By the end of the 1970s, the field was dominated by debates between neorealists such as Kenneth Waltz and neoliberals such as Robert Keohane, both of whom constructed theories of global politics that left little room for the role of ideas. —Tanisha M. Fazal, Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2024

To neoliberals, such policies distort the economy and put too much power in the hands of bureaucrats and politicians. —Simon Montlake, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 Sep. 2023

Yet since Tunisia’s revolution, few politicians – whether Islamists, neoliberals, or hard-line nationalists – have been willing even to talk about economic reforms for fear of hurting their electoral support. —Taylor Luck, The Christian Science Monitor, 15 Sep. 2023

On one side, neoliberals believe that the United States should be engaged internationally, shaping the world in its image through the power of the dollar. —Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Sep. 2022

Word History

Etymology

neo- + liberal entry 2

First Known Use

1979, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for neoliberal

• illiberal
• liberal