liberality

English

Etymology

From Middle English liberalite, from Old French liberalité, from Latin līberālitās (“a noble, kind, or friendly disposition; generosity”), equivalent to liberal +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌlɪbəˈɹælɪti/

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Noun

liberality (usually uncountable, plural liberalities)

1. The property of being liberal; generosity; charity.
   • 1668, John Denham, Of Justice (poem)

     That liberality is but cast away / Which makes us borrow what we cannot pay.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 20:

     She preferred that Lord Rotheles's liberality should take a purely personal direction. Whatever decorations might be lavished upon her dressing-room, the dowager would have to leave them behind her; not so those which filled the prodigality of red morocco cases on her toilette.

2. A gift; a gratuity.

   A prudent man is not impoverished by his liberalities.

3. Candor.
4. Impartiality.