liberal arts
plural noun
Origin of liberal arts
Words nearby liberal arts
Example sentences from the Web for liberal arts
In the single digits were liberal-arts majors (8 percent), visual and performing arts (5 percent) and engineering (7 percent).
The premise of a liberal-arts education is the idea that school is there for something more than earning power.
He was a liberal-arts student but had this idea for a project over at MIT involving solid rocket fuel.
British Dictionary definitions for liberal arts
pl n
Cultural definitions for liberal arts (1 of 2)
The areas of learning that cultivate general intellectual ability rather than technical or professional skills. The term liberal arts is often used as a synonym for humanities, although the liberal arts also include the sciences. The word liberal comes from the Latin liberalis, meaning suitable for a free man, as opposed to a slave.
Cultural definitions for liberal arts (2 of 2)
The areas of learning that cultivate general intellectual ability rather than technical or professional skills. Liberal arts is often used as a synonym for humanities, because literature, languages, history, and philosophy are often considered the primary subjects of the liberal arts. The term liberal arts originally meant arts suitable for free people (libri in Latin) but not for slaves.