Lockean

[lok-ee-uhn]

noun

1. an adherent of the philosophy of Locke.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling the philosophy of Locke.

Other Word Forms

• Lockeanism noun
• Lockianism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Lockean¹

J. Locke + -an

Example Sentences

Even John Adams’ civic-republican culture seems to have given way to personalistic strains in evangelical Christianity and in the republic’s Lockean heritage.

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"It's demagoguery, designed to make the left think Biden's doing something about HR 1, and guaranteeing that nothing will ever be done about it — or that, if it passes, it will mark the end of democracy, as Republicans will see it as a Lockean change of government, and resist it," right-wing Breitbart editor Joel Pollak wrote on Twitter.

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Hill loathed Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose understanding of equality and the General Will challenge the Lockean liberalism and Anglo-American hegemony that Hill claimed to defend.

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Never mind that more serious threats to Lockean liberalism and American hegemony come not from the revolutionary left but from casino-finance capital and corporate welfare that would have horrified Locke and Adam Smith, under banners of "free markets."

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In Lockean terms, they have argued that business putatively conducted in the civil sphere actually belongs to the religious one, and thus ought not be subject to the rules of civil government.

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