舟動之穿林吟嘯行

RIGHT, LIBERTY, and FREEDOM

【舟動多益閱讀：技術訓練讀書會】

■ Right suggests a concrete claim established by legal, ethical, or religious sanctions.

EG.

the right to own property∥

the right to equality before the law

■ Liberty is a more abstract and general notion suggesting the opportunity or the power to choose among alternatives. Liberty may sometimes, in fact, refer to an unwarranted breach of someone else's right to consideration or privacy.

EG.

the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness∥

taking the liberty of phoning you directly∥

unbridled liberty without regard for the rights of others∥

the prisoners were willing to fight for their liberty∥

She was part of a group demanding greater liberty for women.

■ Freedom is close to liberty in its abstract generality but stresses a total lack of constraint more than the opportunity/power for choice.

EG.

freedom of the press ∥

rulers who took it as their right to suppress freedom of speech∥

clothes cut to allow freedom of movement

■ Civil rights are now understood to refer to racial equality, while civilliberties are understood to refer to all the rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments.

EG.

a gross infringement of our civil liberties (→the right of people to be free to say or do what they want while respecting others and staying within the law)

——from Choose the Right Word, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms & Oxford Learner's Thesaurus