four freedoms
plural noun
freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear: stated as goals of U.S. policy by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941.
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four freedoms
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Four Freedoms
Four FreedomsFour kinds of freedom mentioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a speech in 1941 as worth fighting for: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Roosevelt spoke of the Four Freedoms before the United States entered World War II. He was presenting the war as a struggle for freedom and calling for aid to the Allies.
four freedoms
Americanplural noun
Four Freedoms
Cultural
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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The single market relies on a country accepting "the four freedoms": freedom of movement, goods, services and capital.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026
That’s not to say Roosevelt’s speech, or Rockwell’s visual response to it, made manifest the four freedoms articulated in January of 1941.
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2018
Later to be known as the four freedoms, they were based on principles outlined in a 2003 speech by former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, and said that consumers were entitled to:
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2017
Because when the EU’s leaders say they believe the four freedoms of the Single Market are indivisible, we respect that position.
From Time ● Jan. 17, 2017
Two years ago I spoke in my Annual Message of four freedoms.
From State of the Union Address by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
It is remarkable to see Kahn working though his ideas for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City, a truly unified work of architecture, landscape and art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Humanitarian organisation Save Ukraine has managed to rescue at least 95 kidnapped Ukrainian children and will receive the international Four Freedoms Award in the Netherlands in recognition of its achievements.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2024
Brothers, 41, who works on administering immigrant justice grants with the Four Freedoms Fund, says she understands why closures of legacy places affect Seattleites so viscerally.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
The association with Rockwell can make it look, from our perspective, like the Four Freedoms idea was universally embraced; it was not.
From Slate ● Nov. 22, 2021
Branwell wrote about the Four Freedoms of World War II: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
From "Silent To The Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
