[f. LIBERAL a. + -IST.] An advocate of liberalism in politics or religion; a liberal.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), IV. 410. We are forced to draw up: we are forced, little by little, to turn liberalists.
1817. W. Taylor, in Monthly Rev., LXXXIII. 490. He had insensibly acquired the confidence of the entire party of continental liberalists.
1823. Keble, Lett. Spir. Counsel, viii. (1870), 18. Of course, if this be true of dissenters, it is more so of those who are mere liberalists.
attrib. or adj. 1846. Brownson, Wks., V. 522. Faith is not, as our liberalist divines hold, something in addition to the Christian life.
1889. Times, 19 June, 15/5. The opposition of the Liberalist party has a basis in principle.
