Neoliberalism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A political ideology or ideological trend based on neoclassical economics that espouses economic liberalism, favouring trade liberalisation, financial deregulation, a small government, privatisation and liberalisation of government businesses, passive antitrust enforcement, accepting greater economic inequality and disfavouring unionisation. countable, derogatory, often, uncountable

    "The age of Obama was the last gasp of neoliberalism. Despite some progressive words and symbolic gestures, Obama chose to ignore Wall Street crimes, reject bailouts for homeowners, oversee growing inequality and facilitate war crimes like US drones killing innocent civilians abroad."

  2. 2
    a political orientation originating in the 1960s; blends liberal political views with an emphasis on economic growth wordnet
  3. 3
    The ideology associated with the New Democrats and the Democratic Leadership Council. US, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
economic rationalismeconomic rationalismmarket liberalismmarket liberalismneoclassical liberalism

Example

More examples

"Mental healthcare isn't available to most of the working poor under neoliberalism."

Etymology

From neo- + liberalism.

Related phrases

post-neoliberalismnew democrat

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.