liberal arts: Meaning and Definition of

lib'eral arts'

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. the academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects.
  2. (during the Middle Ages) studies comprising the quadrivium and trivium, including arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.