libre
Syllables: li·breUK/ˈliːbɹə//ˈlibɹə/
libre adjective: especially of the will: free, independent, unconstrained.
Adjective
libre (not comparable)
- Especially of the will: free, independent, unconstrained.
- He [God] Adame lent a libre will to follow what he liſt, / And with his holy ſpirit, and grace his choſen dois aſſiſt: [...]1599, Alexander Hume, “Of Gods Benefites Bestowed vpon Man”, in Hymnes, or Sacred Songs, […], Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Walde-graue, […], →OCLC; republished as John Gardiner Kinnear, editor, Hymns...
- With very few limitations on distribution or the right to access the source code to create improved versions, but not necessarily free of charge.
- One more point leads toward Free Software in education: when students get jobs, they prefer to use tools they learned at school in order to minimize extra learning efforts. This fact should lead colleges to teach only those tools not owned by anyone—those that are libre.1999 February, Alessandro Rubini, “Software Libre and Commercial Viability”, in Marjorie Richardson, editor, Linux Journal: The Monthly Magazine of the Linux Community, number 58, Seattle, Wash....
- The great potential of libre software for development and social inclusion has long been emphasized. The cost aspect of it, though it might act as a driver, is only one limited aspect of the benefits of libre software in developing countries, deprived regions, or urban areas. The empowerment of...2005, Philippe Aigrain, “Libre Software Policies at the European Level”, in Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam, Karim R. Lakhani, editors, Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software...
- Synonyms:
- free, free as in speech, free as in freedom
- Not enslaved (of a black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans).
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.
Noun
libre (plural libres)
- A free (not enslaved) black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.
libre meaning in Tagalog, Arabic, Malay and Indonesian
libre in Tagalog
- (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
- malayang
libre in Arabic
- (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
- حُرّ ḥurr
libre in Malay
- (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
- bebas
libre in Indonesian
- (software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement
- bebas
Examples of libre in a sentence
- The great potential of libre software for development and social inclusion has long been emphasized.2005, Philippe Aigrain, “Libre Software Policies at the European Level”, in Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam, Karim R....
- This is what is known as ‘libre’ Open Access. ‘Libre’ Open Access does not yet constitute the bulk of Open Access literature.2012, Alma Swan, “Section 3. The Importance of Open Access.”, in Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access (Open...
- Free and open-source software (F/OSS, FOSS) or free/libre/open-source software (FLOSS) is a software that is both a free software and an open source.2014, Joshua M. Pearce, “Introduction to Open-source Hardware for Science”, in Open-source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce...
Synonyms of libre
Forms of libre
| plural | libres |
|---|
Origin of libre
The obsolete “unconstrained” sense is borrowed from French libre (“at liberty”; “free” as in “clear”, “vacant”, “without obligation”), from Latin līber (“free, unrestricted”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”), whence obsolete English lede (“person(s)”), English leud, and German Leute. The software and the unenslaved senses are either borrowed from the above French, or from its Spanish cognate libre, of the same meaning and Latin etymon.
Words formed from libre
Phrases with libre
Words that rhyme with libre
Questions about libre
- What does libre mean?
- Libre means especially of the will: free, independent, unconstrained.
- What is libre in Tagalog?
- Libre in Tagalog is malayang. See Libre meaning in Tagalog.
- How do you use libre in a sentence?
- The great potential of libre software for development and social inclusion has long been emphasized.
- What part of speech is libre?
- Libre can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce libre?
- Libre is pronounced /ˈliːbɹə/ (UK).
Words near libre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: libre (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-Libra.ogg.
Cite this entry: “libre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/libre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.