Some dictionaries are more perscriptivist, but even with the ones that change faster they’re always playing catch up with how people use words. But in terms of “liberal” most of them have both definitions.
The thing that bugs me these days is people (many of them here on Lemmy) that use “neoliberal” to mean “modern liberal” when that’s not its original meaning at all. It really means “liberal in its 19th Century sense of free and unfettered capitalism” aka “modern conservative”.
Some dictionaries are more perscriptivist, but even with the ones that change faster they’re always playing catch up with how people use words. But in terms of “liberal” most of them have both definitions.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/liberal
The thing that bugs me these days is people (many of them here on Lemmy) that use “neoliberal” to mean “modern liberal” when that’s not its original meaning at all. It really means “liberal in its 19th Century sense of free and unfettered capitalism” aka “modern conservative”.