1
as in parochial
not broad or open in views or opinions
an illiberal society that viewed any artistic depiction of the nude as inherently indecent
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in narrow
unwilling to grant other people social rights or to accept other viewpoints
some of the more illiberal residents were opposed to having a hospice for AIDS patients in the neighborhood
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in vulgar
archaic
lacking in refinement or good taste
people who had been scorned as illiberal because they were poor
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of illiberal
In recent years, candidates running for office in France, Germany, and Spain have successfully used the rhetoric of protecting democracy to push back against illiberal or antidemocratic political movements.
—
Omar G. Encarnación, Foreign Affairs, 16 Jan. 2025
Tom Nichols: Stalin’s revenge From a liberal point of view, comparing the anti-Soviet revolutions of 1989 with the illiberal revolutions today might seem scandalous.
—Ivan Krastev, The Atlantic, 3 Jan. 2025
If the United States flouts the rules, authoritarians and other illiberal leaders need no further excuse to break them at will, inflicting horror on their own people and inciting instability beyond their borders.
—Sarah Yager, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
Democracy is in recession in all quarters of the globe, including in the West, where political centrism has been steadily losing ground to illiberal populism.
—Charles A. Kupchan, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiberal
Omar G. Encarnación, Foreign Affairs, 16 Jan. 2025
Tom Nichols: Stalin’s revenge From a liberal point of view, comparing the anti-Soviet revolutions of 1989 with the illiberal revolutions today might seem scandalous.
—Ivan Krastev, The Atlantic, 3 Jan. 2025
If the United States flouts the rules, authoritarians and other illiberal leaders need no further excuse to break them at will, inflicting horror on their own people and inciting instability beyond their borders.
—Sarah Yager, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
Democracy is in recession in all quarters of the globe, including in the West, where political centrism has been steadily losing ground to illiberal populism.
—Charles A. Kupchan, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for illiberal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for illiberal
Adjective
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This may seem like an impossible task in a world where politics is becoming more divisive, foreign policy more parochial, and social media bubbles more impenetrable.—
Harvey Whitehouse,
WIRED,
23 Jan. 2025
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For more than a century, religious education had been deeply entrenched in the state; in Cleveland, the parochial system was one of the largest in the country.—
Alec MacGillis,
ProPublica,
13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Last night’s special had a comparatively narrow focus, prioritizing the characters and celebrities that many younger viewers would recognize.—
Esther Zuckerman,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2025
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The gap is quite narrow in some places, like Delaware and Maryland, but in places like Kentucky, systemic racial barriers continue to hold people back.—
Ben Berkowitz,
Axios,
17 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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However, these arrangements were not mere shakedowns; they were anchored in strategic diplomacy and geopolitical calculus, rather than vulgar profiteering.—
Ross Rosenfeld,
Newsweek,
26 Feb. 2025
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Her Facebook and email had been flooded with vulgar, inflammatory responses.—
Alyssa Goldberg,
USA TODAY,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Enceladus regularly emits frosty water geysers, produced when the gravity of Saturn flexes the much smaller moon.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
TIME,
18 Feb. 2025
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The gigs in smaller rooms than Simon has typically played, will allow the singer to perform the songs from Seven Psalms live for the first time.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
18 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Kluwe criticized the movement as bigoted and dangerous to the nation’s institutions in a spirited rant likening MAGA to one of history’s darkest political organizations.—
Brian Niemietz,
New York Daily News,
20 Feb. 2025
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But Target’s response frustrated some supporters of gay and transgender rights, who said the company caved to bigoted pressure.—
Nathaniel Meyersohn,
CNN,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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For climate advocates, Forrest citing his mining company’s financial performance might sound a bit crass coming from a billionaire who hops around the world on a private plane.—
Justin Worland,
TIME,
25 Feb. 2025
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Ak — who was previously accused of rape — was immediately faced with accusations of grooming, later admitting to his crass behavior.—
Jessica Bennett,
VIBE.com,
27 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The professor said the groups committed crimes, but their offenses were relatively petty by today’s standards: brawling and shakedowns of non-gang members for their bikes or lunch money.—
Libor Jany,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Feb. 2025
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With the wave of a hand—or, to be more precise, the tapping of a few overnight posts on social media—American political horizons are being remade in ways that are petty and absurd.—
Penny Abeywardena,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The spokesman, Carlos Hernández, said the bodies of 36 men and 15 women had been sent to a provincial morgue set up for the accident.—
Reuters,
NBC News,
10 Feb. 2025
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The plane, which was contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense, crashed in a rice field about half a mile from a cluster of farmhouses, according to Windy Beaty, a provincial disaster mitigation officer.—
Muri Assunção,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Illiberal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/illiberal. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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