freedom of speech

Definition

The right of citizens to speak, or otherwise communicate, without fear of harm or prosecution.

Etymology

The concept and the term are ancient; Athens’ democratic ideology of free speech (παρρησία (parrhēsía)) is thought to have emerged in the 5th or 6th century B.C.E. The first occurrence of the phrase freedom of speech recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary dates to 1567, and it also appears in the English Bill of Rights, among other works: see the quotations.

Example Sentences

• "S. Iohn the Baptiste, who died for the lyke liberty and fredome of speache, as S. Quillian, and S. Lamberte did."
• "That the Freedome of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parlyament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parlyament."
• "All Miniſters, therefore, who were Oppreſſors, or intended to be Oppreſſors, have been loud in their Complaints againſt Freedom of Speech, and the Licence of the Preſs; and always reſtrained, or endeavored to reſtrain both, in conſequence of this, they have browbeaten Writers, and puniſhed them violently, and againſt Law, and burnt their Works; by all which, they ſhewed how much Truth alarmed them, and how much they were at Enmity with Truth."