A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

liable for something • liable to something
liable for something —legally responsible for smth.: Is a man
liable for his wife’s debts in your country?
liable to something —
1
. subject to some penalty: If you drive
a car to the danger of the public, you make yourself liable to
a heavy fine. 2. predisposed to smth.; likely to do smth.: We
put ourselves under pressure, which made us liable to mistakes
in making decisions.
liberty boat • liberty ship
liberty boat—(UK Nautical) a boat carrying sailors with leave
to go ashore: They knew that the liberty-boat would be on
shore for them at that hour.
liberty ship —(WWII) a prefabricated U.S.-built merchant
vessel: Some of the wartime “liberty” ships fractured when
lying in port, without operational loads.
liberty boy • liberty man
liberty boy —
1
. (coll.) a noisy partisan of liberty; a supporter
for a freedom movement: The liberty boys were honored with
the presence of ministers. 2. (UK Nautical) a sailor having
leave of absence: People from ships called “liberty boys” are
only allowed to come on shore on Sundays for recreation.
liberty man — = liberty boy 2: A few hundred liberty men
on each side … their flights delayed by bad weather, returned
to the firing line too late.
life in the wild • life in the wilderness
life in the wild —(of animals and birds) life in an undomes-
ticated free state in their natural surroundings: Even as Buck
is increasingly drawn to a life away from humanity, a life in
the wild, his affection for Thornton keeps him from making
the final break.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
compound wildlife— wild animals and birds living in a natural
undomesticated state: We showed the photos of the animal to
locals who know the wildlife of the area, but nobody had ever
seen this creature before.
life in the wilderness —life in a mostly uninhabited area in
its natural state, such as a forest or mountainous region: The
story tells of a modern-day pioneer who becomes bored with
the troubles of city life and heads for life in the wilderness.
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