free up

verb

To make (space or time) available.

“Retiring from work freed me up to write a novel.”

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Meanings

verbfree up (third-person singular simple present frees up, present participle freeing up, simple past and past participle freed up)

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

  1. transitiveTo make (space or time) available.

    Selling those old books freed up most of the spare room.

    3 more examples

    You can free up space on your hard disk by deleting temporary files.

    If you're coming to visit for the weekend, I'll free up Saturday for you.

    It is understood that the reason for SWR accepting the 42 trains without them being ready for service was to free up space at the Derby depot and to protect cash flow.

    2023 July 12, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Training starts on heavily delayed SWR Arterios”, in RAIL, number 987, page 22
  2. transitiveTo make (a person or resource) available.

    Retiring from work freed me up to write a novel.

Translations

Finnish vapauttaa
  • vapauttaato make (space or time) available
German frei machen, befreien
  • frei machento make (space or time) available
  • befreiento make (space or time) available
  • frei haltento make (space or time) available
  • die Mögliichkkeit gebento make (space or time) available
  • ermöglichento make (space or time) available
Hungarian felszabadít
  • felszabadítto make (space or time) available
Polish oswobodzić
  • oswobodzićto make (space or time) available
Russian освободи́ть, вы́свободить
  • освободи́ть (osvobodítʹ)to make (space or time) available
  • вы́свободить (výsvoboditʹ)to make (space or time) available
Spanish desalojar, desocupar
  • desalojarto make (space or time) available
  • desocuparto make (space or time) available
Swedish frigöra
  • frigörato make (space or time) available
Turkish yer açmak
  • yer açmakto make (space or time) available
Cite this entry
APA

free up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/free%20up

MLA

“free up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/free%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “free up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/free%20up.

Source: free up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.