Freedom is lost through the positive action taken by one or more human beings acting against another or others of their kind, when the purpose of the action is the restraint, control, or punishment of the individual or individuals infringed upon.

This view of freedom is consistent with its earliest known uses. But there is more to it than that.

As we have noted, historically, freedom has been viewed or presumed to be a condition of political privilege, made possible by a grant of freedom from the holder of power in any particular group. Those making the grant were also presumed to have the power to withdraw it, at will.

As early as the 1700's, however, scholars and thinkers began to conclude that true freedom is not a political privilege, granted by an authority, but a natural human characteristic which each individual intrinsically possesses, and which is an inseparable (or inalienable) part of their being, wholly apart from any grant of privilege by an authority.

In short, freedom is a natural, inseparable right, not a political privilege. In the strictest sense, it cannot actually be "lost", it can only be interfered with.