free

/fɹiː/

adjective 30
verb 3
adverb 2
noun 4
forms 15
phrases 9

adjective30

•
not controlled or held back by anyone or anything
- He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
•
Obtainable without any payment.
- The government provides free health care.
- It's free real estate.
•
Complimentary.
- Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!
•
Not imprisoned or enslaved.
- Free Blacks
•
With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.
- OpenOffice is free software.
•
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.
Without obligations.
•
Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.
- You can sit on this chair; it's free.
•
Upholding individual rights.
- This is a free country.
•
Unattached or uncombined.
- The door finally shook free of its hinges.
•
Not attached; loose.
- In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.
•
Generous; liberal.
- He's very free with his money.
•
To be enjoyed by anyone freely.
- Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you? — 1590
•
Unobstructed, without blockages.
- the drain was free
Unconstrained by quantifiers.
Unconstrained of identifiers, not bound.
(of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
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.
Belonging to the image of some free functor.
•
Having 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.
Having a linearly independent set of generators (called a basis).
Of a rocket or missile: not under the control of a guidance system after being launched.
Privileged or individual; proprietary.
•
(old-fashioned) Invested 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
(old-fashioned) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
Intended for release, and omitting debugging diagnostics, as opposed to a checked version.
(US, slang) Having oversteer.
•
(no longer used) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
- My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. — 1679
(UK, no longer used) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.

verb3

•
To make free; set at liberty; release.
- Pro.[…]Spirit, fine spirit, Ile free thee / Within two dayes for this. — 1610
To rid of something that confines or oppresses.
•
To 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

adverb2

•
Without needing to pay.
- I got this bike free.
•
(no longer used) Freely; willingly.
- I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven. — 1601

noun4

The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
•
Abbreviation 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
•
A free transfer.
- Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring. — 2011
•
(informal) Abbreviation of freestyle.
- The team won the 200 meters free relay.

forms

freed · freeing · frees · freeth · freest · free-er · freeer · freer · freeër · more free · free-est · freeest · freest · freeëst · most free

Phrases with free