Word.ws English Dictionary

libero

/ˈlɪbəɹəʊ/US/ˈlɪbəɹoʊ/

libero noun: a central defender to whom no forward is assigned for marking, forming the last line of defence and often initiating the offensive play.

Noun (1)

libero (plural liberos)

  1. A central defender to whom no forward is assigned for marking, forming the last line of defence and often initiating the offensive play.
    • Nicknamed “Der Kaiser”, Beckenbauer was as elegant as he was dominant, and such was his assurance in possession that he came to master the modern sweeper role, or libero. More so, he is credited with creating it.2024 January 8, Sachin Nakrani, “Franz Beckenbauer, World Cup-winning captain and manager, dies aged 78”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
    Synonyms:
    sweeper
  2. A designated back-row player intended to be used as a ball-control specialist.

Noun (2) capitalized: Libero

Libero (plural Liberos)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of libero (volleyball).

Synonyms of libero

Forms of libero

pluralliberos
pluralLiberos

Origin of libero

From Italian libero (literally “free one”). So called because he has no direct opponent to mark and is therefore free to join in the offensive. The volleyball use is younger.

Questions about libero

What does libero mean?
Libero means a central defender to whom no forward is assigned for marking, forming the last line of defence and often initiating the offensive play.
What part of speech is libero?
Libero is a noun.
How do you pronounce libero?
Libero is pronounced /ˈlɪbəɹəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of libero?
The plural of libero is liberos.

Words near libero in the dictionary

  1. Liberlander
  2. Liberlanders
  3. Liberlandish
  4. Liberman
  5. Libermans
  6. libero
  7. liberoligneous
  8. liberos
  9. liberosis
  10. libers
  11. Liberson

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: libero (page history and authors); Libero (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-libero.wav.

Cite this entry: “libero.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/libero. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.