Meanings
- not comparableCausing the destruction of liberty; oppressive, liberticidal
M. Labriffe is a member of the Chamber of Deputies, and has, of course, voted for the liberticide laws.
1823, Public Characters of All Nations, Volume II, Sir Richard Phillips and Co. (publisher), page 5022 more examples
[…] by aſſembling at her houſe, in ſecret council, the principal chiefs of that conſpiracy, and by keeping up a correſpondence tending to facilitate their liberticide deſigns.
1798, translation of Madame Roland, An Appeal to Impartial Posterity, First American Edition—Corrected, Volume I, A. Van Hook (publisher), pages 151–152The conservative body you propose might be so constituted, as, while it would be an admirable sedative in a variety of smaller cases, might also be a valuable sentinel and check on the liberticide views of an ambitious individual.
1811 January 26, Thomas Jefferson, letter to M. D. Destutt Tracy, in Thomas Jefferson Randolph (editor), Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume IV, Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley (publishers, 1829), page 166
plural liberticides
- countableuncountableThe destruction of liberty.
In the hands of a designing executive, a standing army was the classic instrument of liberticide.
1976, Lance Banning, “Jeffersonian Ideology and the French Revolution: A Question of Liberticide at Home”, in Studies in Burke and His Time, Volume 17, Number 1, Texas Tech Press, page 202 more examples
All that has been done by the state since the revolt of May is liberticide of the most violent character.
1819, “Ouida” (pseudonym), “An Impeachment of Modern Italy”, in The American Monthly Review of Reviews, Volume 18, Number 5 (1819 November), page 557In language and logic we are the prisoners of our premises, just as in politics and law we are prisoners of our rules. Hence we had better pick them well. For if suicide is an illness because it terminates in death, and if the prevention of death by any means necessary is the physician’s therapeutic mandate, then the proper remedy for suicide is liberticide.
1981, Thomas Szasz, quoted in Margot Joan Fromer, Ethical Issues in Health Care, Mosby, page 399 - countableuncountableOne who causes the destruction of liberty.
Blind, old, and lonely, when his country's pride, / The priest, the slave, and the liberticide / Trampled and mocked with many a loathed rite / Of lust and blood; he went, unterrified, /
1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC
Origin
- Frenchliberticide
- Englishliberticide
From French liberticide, coined around the time of the French Revolution. Equivalent to liberty + -cide.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan lliberticida, lliberticidi
- lliberticidacausing the destruction of liberty
- lliberticidithe destruction of liberty
- lliberticidaone who causes the destruction of liberty
Dutch vrijheidsberovend
- vrijheidsberovendcausing the destruction of liberty
Finnish vapauden tukahduttava, vapauden tuhoaminen
- vapauden tukahduttavacausing the destruction of liberty
- vapauden tuhoaminenthe destruction of liberty
French liberticide, liberticide
- liberticidecausing the destruction of liberty
- liberticidethe destruction of liberty
- liberticideone who causes the destruction of liberty
German freiheitsfeindlich
- freiheitsfeindlichcausing the destruction of liberty
Greek ελευθεριοκτόνος
- ελευθεριοκτόνος (eleftherioktónos)causing the destruction of liberty
Italian liberticida, liberticidio
- liberticidacausing the destruction of liberty
- liberticidiothe destruction of liberty
- liberticidaone who causes the destruction of liberty
Polish niszczący wolności, zniszczenie wolności
- niszczący wolnościcausing the destruction of liberty
- zniszczenie wolnościthe destruction of liberty
- zabójca wolnościone who causes the destruction of liberty
Portuguese liberticida, liberticídio
- liberticidacausing the destruction of liberty
- liberticídiothe destruction of liberty
- liberticidaone who causes the destruction of liberty
Spanish liberticida, liberticidio
- liberticidacausing the destruction of liberty
- liberticidiothe destruction of liberty
- liberticidaone who causes the destruction of liberty
Cite this entry
liberticide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/liberticide
“liberticide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/liberticide. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “liberticide,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/liberticide.
Source: liberticide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.