free

comparative freer · comparative more free · superlative freest · superlative most free

1. socialUnconstrained.

   He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.

   4 more examples

   Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”

   1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock

   Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.

   2013 August 10, Schumpeter, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2023

   The country is part of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which encourages further economic integration with the E.U. It is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), which allows for the free movement of goods and services and enables cooperation across multiple industries between Iceland and the E.U.

   2026 August 18, Tiago Ventura, “Iceland’s E.U. Referendum, Explained”, in TIME, archived from the original on 19 Aug 2026

   Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   1. socialNot imprisoned or enslaved.

      a free man

      1 more example

      Free Blacks

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted, bound, enslaved, imprisoned

   2. socialGenerous; liberal.

      He's very free with his money.

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   3. obsoletesocialClear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.

      My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.

      1679, John Dryden, Oedipus: A Tragedy, page 59

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   4. socialWithout obligations.

      free time

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   5. socialTo be enjoyed by anyone freely.

      a free school

      2 more examples

      Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?

      1590-2, William Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I, ii

      [Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.

      2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2023

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

   6. socialcountryUpholding individual rights.

      the Free World

      1 more example

      This is a free country.

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit, nonauthoritarian · Antonyms: constrained, restricted, unfree, authoritarian

   7. socialcomputingWith no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.

      OpenOffice is free software.

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit, libre, free as in speech, free as in freedom · Antonyms: constrained, restricted, proprietary, nonfree

   8. socialcomputingIntended for release, and omitting debugging diagnostics, as opposed to a checked version.

      Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit · Antonyms: constrained, restricted

2. Obtainable without any payment.

   It's free real estate.

   2 more examples

   The government provides free health care.

   Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.

   2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2021

   Synonyms: free of charge, gratis, costless, feeless, free as in beer · Antonyms: see at nonfree

   1. broadlyComplimentary.

      Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!

      Synonyms: free of charge, gratis, costless, feeless, free as in beer · Antonyms: see at nonfree

3. Unconstrained.
   1. abstractalgebraLeft adjoint to a forgetful functor G; such that any map f:X→G(A) induces a universal map ̄f:F(X)→A.
   2. abstractalgebraBelonging to the image of some free functor.
   3. abstractalgebraHaving a set of generators which satisfy no non-trivial relations; equivalently, being the group of reduced words on a set of generators.

      The fundamental group of the figure eight is free of rank 2.

   4. abstractcommutative algebraalgebraHaving a linearly independent set of generators (called a basis).
   5. abstracthuman sciencesUnconstrained by quantifiers.

      z is the free variable in #92;forallx#92;existsy#58;xy#61;z.

      Antonyms: bound

   6. abstractcomputingUnconstrained of identifiers, not bound.

      Synonyms: unbound · Antonyms: bound

   7. abstracthuman sciences(of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
   8. physicalUnobstructed, without blockages.

      the drain was free

      Synonyms: clear, unobstructed · Antonyms: blocked, obstructed

   9. physicalUnattached or uncombined.

      a free radical

      1 more example

      The door finally shook free of its hinges.

      Synonyms: loose, unfastened, loose, unfastened, unsecured, unstapled

   10. physicalNot currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.

       You can sit on this chair; it's free.

   11. physicalbiologyNot attached; loose.

       In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.

       1 more example

       Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute[…]

       1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 7

   12. physicalgovernmentOf a rocket or missile: not under the control of a guidance system after being launched.
4. Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.

   We had a wholesome, filling meal, free of meat.  I would like to live free from care in the mountains.

   2 more examples

   princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties

   1679-1715, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England

   One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   Synonyms: without

5. datedReady; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.

   a free horse

6. datedInvested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.

   He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, / Free of his farm.

   1697, John Dryden, “Part 3, line 1245”, in The Hind and the Panther

7. UKobsoletelawCertain or honourable; the opposite of base.

   free service;  free socage

8. lawPrivileged or individual; proprietary.

   a free fishery;  a free warren

   Antonyms: common, nonproprietary

9. USslanghobbiesHaving oversteer.

   Synonyms: loose

comparative more free · superlative most free

1. Without needing to pay.

   I got this bike free.

   1 more example

   Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.

   1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714

   Synonyms: for free, for nothing, gratis

2. obsoleteFreely; willingly.

   I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.

   c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, published 1623

present singular third person frees · participle present freeing · participle past freed · past freed

1. transitiveTo make free; set at liberty; release.

   Pro.[…]Spirit, fine ſpirit, Ile free thee / Within two dayes for this.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 5

   1 more example

   Liberia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society whose goal was to resettle freed slaves in Africa.

   2025 July 9, Mitchell McCluskey and Larry Madowo, “Trump praises ‘good English’ of Liberian president, prompting criticism across Africa”, in CNN

2. transitiveTo rid of something that confines or oppresses.

   1 more example

   Then I walked about, till I found on the further side, a great river of sweet water, running with a strong current; whereupon I called to mind the boat-raft I had made aforetime and said to myself, "Needs must I make another; haply I may free me from this strait. If I escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to forswear travel; and if I perish I shall be at peace and shall rest from toil and moil."

   1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564

3. transitivecomputingTo relinquish (previously allocated memory) to the system.

   There is no way to access that original area of memory, nor is there any way to free it before the program ends.

   2002, Jesse Liberty, SAMS Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours, page 148

plural frees

1. abbreviationAustralian rules football; Gaelic football; Australian rules football; Gaelic footballAbbreviation of free kick.

   Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.

   2006, https://web.archive.org/web/20070614233634/http://www.footballlegends.org/daryn_cresswell.htm

2. ball gamesA free transfer.

   Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.

   2011 September 21, Sam Lyon, “Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport

3. hurlingThe usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
4. abbreviationinformalhobbiesAbbreviation of freestyle.

   The team won the 200 meters free relay.

1. colloquialpronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of three

plural Frees

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Parish Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana, United States.