laissez-faire

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lais·sez faire

also lais·ser faire (lĕs′ā fâr′, lā′zā)

1. An economic doctrine that opposes governmental regulation of or interference in commerce beyond the minimum necessary for a free-enterprise system to operate according to its own economic laws.

2. Noninterference in the affairs of others.

[French : laissez, second person pl. imperative of laisser, to let, allow + faire, to do.]

lais′sez-faire′ adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

laissez-faire

The doctrine of leaving economic activity to market forces free of government interference.

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Adj.

laissez-faire - with minimally restricted freedom in commerce

individualistic

capitalistic, capitalist - favoring or practicing capitalism

laissez-faire

laisser-faire

noun nonintervention, free trade, individualism, free enterprise, live and let live the doctrine of laissez-faire and unbridled individualism

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

laissez-faire

[ˌleɪseɪˈfɛə^r ˌlɛseɪˈfɛə^r]

n → laisser-faire m

modif [policy, approach] → de laisser-faire

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

laissez-faire

adj (Econ) → Laisser-faire-; (fig) → leger, lax; laissez-faire economics → Laisser-faire-Wirtschaftspolitik f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

laissez-faire

[ˌlɛseɪˈfɛəʳ]

1. n → liberismo

2. adj → liberistico/a

References in periodicals archive ?

Revel reminds the reader that while the words "laissez faire, laissez passer" are synonymous with free trade and free enterprise, "they are imperatives with an active connotation, quite unlike the indifferent apathy of a substantivized infinitive linked by a hyphen.

Revel's Uncommon Insight

General Secretary John Monks urged the European leaders attending the summit to "stop this policy of laissez faire, laissez passer' and to take expansionary action to prevent a return to mass unemployment".