1. The freedom to think or to act without being constrained by necessity or force; including the condition of being free from restrictions or controls.
2. Freedom from captivity or slavery; or the condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor.
3. A political, social, and economic right that belongs to the citizens of a state or to all people; often used in the plural; such as, the right and power to act, to believe, or to express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.
4. A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights in the United States. 5. An action or remark that violates the polite distance usually left between people and which may strike the person at whom it is directed as insultingly too familiar; such as, a breach or overstepping of propriety or social convention.
6. In the U.S. navy, a short authorized leave from naval duties during which a sailor is authorized to go ashore.
7. An unwarranted risk or a risky chance: "He took foolish liberties on the ski slopes and ended up breaking both of his legs and left arm."

The rights of people to do or to say things that are not illegal without being stopped or interrupted by their government: Freedom of speech is considered a civil liberty for people in the United States and in some other nations; but not in every country.

Civil liberties also involve individual rights that are protected by law from unjust governmental or other kinds of interference.