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personal liberty

American

noun

the liberty of an individual to act with free will except for those restraints imposed by law to safeguard the physical, moral, political, and economic welfare of others.

Etymology

Origin of personal liberty

First recorded in 1840–50

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.

The Fourth Amendment is an essential safeguard of Americans’ privacy and personal liberty.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

“The attempt to uphold these personal liberty laws and simultaneously the government’s attempts to take these Black fugitives led to violence, and to perceptions that the so-called slave-power was the aggressor,” Waite said.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2025

Given that his personal liberty will be at stake, his inability to ever acknowledge his own prior mistakes or admit personal limitations of any kind, Lauro and Blanche will surely have their hands full.

From Slate • Jan. 26, 2024

"This was a great step for personal liberty."

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2023

Indian insistence on personal liberty was accompanied by an equal insistence on social equality.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023