the Four Freedoms
/ðə ˌfɔː ˈfriːdəmz/
/ðə ˌfɔːr ˈfriːdəmz/
- four types of freedom that US President Franklin D Roosevelt said were worth fighting for. They are freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want (= the lack of basic needs) and freedom from fear. He said this during his State of the Union Address to Congress on 6 January 1941 nearly a year before the US entered the Second World War. After the war, the Four Freedoms were included in the United Nations Charter (= statement of the rights of people).