Etimology
From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic *frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“dear, beloved”), from *preyH- (“to love, please”). Related to friend.
adjective
free (comparative freer or more free, superlative freest or most free)
(social) Unconstrained.
Obtainable without any payment.
(abstract) Unconstrained.
(physical) Unconstrained.
Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.
(dated) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
(dated) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.
(UK, law, obsolete) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.
(law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common.
Examples
He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.
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 […] .”
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.
Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered
Antonyms: constrained, restricted
a free man
Antonyms: bound, enslaved, imprisoned
He's very free with his money.
My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.
free time
a free school
Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?
This is a free country.
OpenOffice is free software.
Synonym: libre
Antonyms: proprietary, nonfree
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.
The government provides free health care.
It's free real estate.
Synonyms: free of charge, gratis
Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!
The fundamental group of the figure eight is free of rank 2.
z {\displaystyle z} is the free variable in ∀ x ∃ y : x y = z {\displaystyle \forall x\exists y:xy=z} .
Antonym: bound
Synonym: unbound
Antonym: bound
the drain was free
Synonyms: clear, unobstructed
Antonyms: blocked, obstructed
a free radical
Synonyms: loose, unfastened; see also Thesaurus:loose
You can sit on this chair; it's free.
In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.
Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute […]
Synonym: without
We had a wholesome, filling meal, free of meat. I would like to live free from care in the mountains.
princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties
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.
a free horse
He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, / Free of his farm.
free service; free socage
a free fishery; a free warren
Related words
antonyms
unfree
hyponyms
-free
related terms
friend
adverb
free (comparative more free, superlative most free)
Without needing to pay.
(obsolete) Freely; willingly.
Examples
Synonyms: for free, for nothing, gratis
I got this bike free.
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.
I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.
verb
free (third-person singular simple present frees, present participle freeing, simple past and past participle freed)
(transitive) To make free; set at liberty; release.
(transitive) To rid of something that confines or oppresses.
(transitive, programming) To relinquish (previously allocated memory) to the system.
Examples
Pro. […] Spirit, fine ſpirit, Ile free thee / Within two dayes for this.
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."
There is no way to access that original area of memory, nor is there any way to free it before the program ends.
Related words
synonyms
befree
emancipate
let loose
liberate
manumit
release
unchain
unfetter
unshackle
noun
free (plural frees)
(Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
(soccer) A free transfer.
(hurling) The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
(swimming, informal) Abbreviation of freestyle.
Examples
Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.
Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.
The team won the 200 meters free relay.