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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

free.

Unconstrained.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/fɹiː/Received-Pronunciation[fɹɪi̯]Received-Pronunciation/fɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/fɹi/General-American
  1. Unconstrained.

    He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
  2. Unconstrained. Not imprisoned or enslaved.

    Free Blacks
    a free man
  3. Unconstrained. Generous; liberal.

    He's very free with his money.
  4. Unconstrained. Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.

    obsolete
  5. Unconstrained. Without obligations.

    free time
  6. Unconstrained. To be enjoyed by anyone freely.

    a free school
  7. Unconstrained. Upholding individual rights.

    the Free World
    This is a free country.
  8. Unconstrained. With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.

    OpenOffice is free software.
  9. Unconstrained. Intended for release, and omitting debugging diagnostics, as opposed to a checked version.

  10. Obtainable without any payment.

    The government provides free health care.
    It's free real estate.
  11. Obtainable without any payment. Complimentary.

    broadly
    Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!
  12. Unconstrained. In any of various technical senses generic, universal. Left adjoint to a forgetful functor G; such that any map f:X→G(A) induces a universal map ̄f:F(X)→A.

    abstract
  13. Unconstrained. In any of various technical senses generic, universal. Belonging to the image of some free functor.

    abstract
  14. Unconstrained. In any of various technical senses generic, universal. Having a set of generators which satisfy no non-trivial relations; equivalently, being the group of reduced words on a set of generators.

    abstract
    The fundamental group of the figure eight is free of rank 2.
  15. Unconstrained. In any of various technical senses generic, universal. Having a linearly independent set of generators (called a basis).

    abstract
  16. Unconstrained. Unconstrained by quantifiers.

    abstract
    z is the free variable in #92;forallx#92;existsy#58;xy#61;z.
  17. Unconstrained. Unconstrained of identifiers, not bound.

    abstract
  18. Unconstrained. (of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.

    abstract
  19. Unconstrained. Unobstructed, without blockages.

    physical
    the drain was free
  20. Unconstrained. Unattached or uncombined.

    physical
    a free radical
    The door finally shook free of its hinges.
  21. Unconstrained. Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.

    physical
    You can sit on this chair; it's free.
  22. Unconstrained. Not attached; loose.

    physical
    In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.
  23. Unconstrained. Of a rocket or missile: not under the control of a guidance system after being launched.

    physical
  24. 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.
  25. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.

    dated
    a free horse
  26. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.

    dated
  27. Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.

    UK · obsolete
    free service;  free socage
  28. Privileged or individual; proprietary.

    a free fishery;  a free warren
  29. Having oversteer.

    US · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *preyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *priHós Proto-Germanic *frijwaz Proto-West Germanic *friu Old English frēo Middle English fre English free From Middle English fre, from Old English frēo, frēoh, frī, friġ, frīoh (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please; to love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fri (“free”), Faroese fríur (“free”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (freis, “free”). Other cognates include Cornish rydh (“free”), Welsh rhydd (“free”), Latin propriō (“to appropriate”), Czech přát (“to wish; to favour”), Polish sprzyjać (“to favour, foster”), Serbo-Croatian прѝјати, prìjati (“to please, taste, suit; to be agreeable, relish”), Slovak priať (“to wish”), Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (friia, “good, pleasant”), Persian فری (fari, “beloved, dear; agreeable, pleasing”), Sanskrit प्रिय (priya, “beloved”). Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

adv/fɹiː/Received-Pronunciation[fɹɪi̯]Received-Pronunciation/fɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/fɹi/General-American
  1. Without needing to pay.

    I got this bike free.
  2. Freely; willingly.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *preyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *priHós Proto-Germanic *frijwaz Proto-West Germanic *friu Old English frēo Middle English fre English free From Middle English fre, from Old English frēo, frēoh, frī, friġ, frīoh (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please; to love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish fri (“free”), Faroese fríur (“free”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (freis, “free”). Other cognates include Cornish rydh (“free”), Welsh rhydd (“free”), Latin propriō (“to appropriate”), Czech přát (“to wish; to favour”), Polish sprzyjać (“to favour, foster”), Serbo-Croatian прѝјати, prìjati (“to please, taste, suit; to be agreeable, relish”), Slovak priať (“to wish”), Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀 (friia, “good, pleasant”), Persian فری (fari, “beloved, dear; agreeable, pleasing”), Sanskrit प्रिय (priya, “beloved”). Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

verb/fɹiː/Received-Pronunciation[fɹɪi̯]Received-Pronunciation/fɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/fɹi/General-American
  1. To make free; set at liberty; release.

    transitive
  2. To rid of something that confines or oppresses.

    transitive
  3. To relinquish (previously allocated memory) to the system.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English freen, freoȝen, from Old English frēon, frēoġan (“to free; make free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frijōn, from Proto-Germanic *frijōną, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-, and is cognate with German freien, Dutch vrijen, Czech přát, Serbo-Croatian prijati, Polish sprzyjać.

noun/fɹiː/Received-Pronunciation[fɹɪi̯]Received-Pronunciation/fɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/fɹi/General-American
  1. Abbreviation of free kick.

    abbreviation · alt-of
  2. A free transfer.

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

  4. Abbreviation of freestyle.

    abbreviation · alt-of · informal
    The team won the 200 meters free relay.
num/fɹiː/Received-Pronunciation[fɹɪi̯]Received-Pronunciation/fɹɪj/British, Southern, Standard/fɹi/General-American
  1. Pronunciation spelling of three

    alt-of · colloquial · pronunciation-spelling
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.