unfreedom

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ freedom.

Noun

unfreedom (countable and uncountable, plural unfreedoms)

1. (uncountable) The condition of being unfree.
   • 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

     It was as if all the unfreedom in which he'd spent his seven decades of life were embodied in this six-year-old but essentially brand-new chair.

   • 2015, Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin's Daughter, →ISBN, page 528:

     She is her father's daughter in a way that has finally brought her back to unfreedom . . . the last misfortune bequeathed to her by the terrible man who was her father.

2. (countable) A particular limitation of one's freedom.
   • 2003, Matthew H. Kramer, The Quality of Freedom, →ISBN, page 340:

     Perhaps most notably, our enquiries into the existence of unfreedoms are steps toward the measurement of the overall freedom of each individual and of each society.

Synonyms

• (condition of being unfree): illiberty, slavery
• (limitation): restriction

Antonyms

• freedom

Translations

the condition of being unfree

• German: Unfreiheit (de) f
• Icelandic: ófrelsi n
• Portuguese: iliberdade f