| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| free |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  fr |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: fre·er, fre·est
1. Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty. 2. Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: felt free to go. 3a. Having political independence: “America . . . is the freest and wealthiest nation in the world” (Rudolph W. Giuliani). b. Governed by consent and possessing or granting civil liberties: a free citizenry. c. Not subject to arbitrary interference by a government: a free press. 4a. Not affected or restricted by a given condition or circumstance: a healthy animal, free of disease; free from need. b. Not subject to a given condition; exempt: income that is free of all taxes. 5. Not subject to external restraint: “Comment is free but facts are sacred” (Charles Prestwich Scott). 6. Not literal or exact: a free translation. 7a. Costing nothing; gratuitous: a free meal. b. Publicly supported: free education. 8a. Not occupied or used: a free locker. b. Not taken up by scheduled activities: free time between classes. 9. Unobstructed; clear: a free lane. 10. Unguarded in expression or manner; open; frank. 11. Taking undue liberties; forward or overfamiliar. 12. Liberal or lavish: tourists who are free with their money. 13. Given, made, or done of one's own accord; voluntary or spontaneous: a free act of the will; free choices. 14. Chemistry & Physics a. Unconstrained; unconfined: free expansion. b. Not fixed in position; capable of relatively unrestricted motion: a free electron. c. Not chemically bound in a molecule: free oxygen. d. Involving no collisions or interactions: a free path. e. Empty: a free space. f. Unoccupied: a free energy level. 15. Nautical Favorable: a free wind. 16. Not bound, fastened, or attached: the free end of a chain. 17. Linguistics a. Being a form, especially a morpheme, that can stand as an independent word, such as boat or bring. b. Being a vowel in an open syllable, as the o in go. | | ADVERB: | 1. In a free manner; without restraint. 2. Without charge. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: freed, free·ing, frees
1. To set at liberty; make free: freed the slaves; free the imagination. 2. To relieve of a burden, obligation, or restraint: a people who were at last freed from fear. 3. To remove obstructions or entanglements from; clear: free a path through the jungle. | | IDIOM: | for free Informal Without charge. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English fre, from Old English fro. V., from Middle English freen, from Old English fron, to love, set free. See pr - in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | free ly —ADVERB
freeness —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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