liberalism

/ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm/

//ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"liberalism" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“liberalism” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #14,984. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#14,984
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
15
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality of being liberal.

Corpus desk

Index EN-liberalism · liberalism · English

liberalism · rank #14,984 · 15 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,984
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH lex

Nearest frequency peer: lex (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “liberalism”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “liberalism” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for liberalism
PropertyValue
Headwordliberalism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm/
Letters10
Frequency rank#14,984
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “liberalism”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).liberalismlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “lex” (#14,983), “Liberia” (#14,985), “legged” (#14,982). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “liberalism” is #14,984. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around liberalism (IPA /ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #14,984 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for liberalism, with forms such as "ilberalism", "lbieralism", and "libberalism". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism. The correct English form is liberalism, spelled L-I-B-E-R-A-L-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality of being liberal.
  2. 2
    Any political movement founded on the autonomy and personal freedom of the individual, progress and reform, and government by law with the consent of the governed.
  3. 3
    An economic ideology in favour of laissez faire and the free market (related to economic liberalism).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how liberalism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Whether some distant cousin really belongs to the extended family of liberalisms is a matter of healthy dispute.
  2. This poses obvious problems for statistical inference in that what may appear as ‘declines’ in non-white racial liberalism may actually be due to increases in representation of non-black racial/ethnic minorities whose racial attitudes are more conservative.

Etymology

Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism.

This word in other languages

liberalismo(Español)libéralisme(Français)Liberalismus(Deutsch)liberalismo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ilberalism
  • lbieralism
  • libberalism
  • libearlism
  • liberailsm
  • liberalims
  • liberalismm
  • liberalissm
  • liberallism
  • liberalsim
  • liberlaism
  • liberralism
  • librealism
  • liebralism
  • lliberalism

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of liberalism - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ilberalism2lbieralism2libberalism1libearlism2liberailsm2liberalims2liberalismm1liberalissm1
Edit distance from "liberalism"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "liberalism"?
"liberalism" is spelled L-I-B-E-R-A-L-I-S-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm/.
What does "liberalism" mean?
As a noun, "liberalism" means: The quality of being liberal.
What are common misspellings of "liberalism"?
Common misspellings include "ilberalism", "lbieralism", "libberalism", "libearlism", "liberailsm". The correct spelling is "liberalism".
How do you pronounce "liberalism"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "liberalism" is /ˈlɪ.bɹə.lɪz.əm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "liberalism"?
Circa 1819, from French libéralisme circa 1818. Equivalent to liberal + -ism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "liberalism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

locomotive#14,988JavaScript#14,975microscope#14,999monumental#15,004

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

knowingly15 variantshomophobic15 variantspilgrimage15 variantspreventive15 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list