free

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“
He was free--free, and in one stroke he had placed the world at his feet.

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Definitions (151)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (34)

  1. adjective Not imprisoned or enslaved; being at liberty.
  2. adjective Not controlled by obligation or the will of another: felt free to go.
  3. adjective Having political independence: "America . . . is the freest and wealthiest nation in the world” (Rudolph W. Giuliani).
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (92)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • "There's fake free, which is just marketing - the buy-one-get-one-free model, the invocation of the word 'free' to grab consumer attention, but it does not change the underlying economics." —  BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition
  • All the party present exclaimed against what they called his free-masonry; and even his sister, who was not given to superstition, begged him to be silent lest he should offend the neraiďdhes_, who might punish him when he least expected it. —  Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844
  • It could not untie knots or pick its cage to pieces, so that it was effectually restrained during the greater part of the voyage; but there came a tempest at last, which assisted him in becoming free--free, not only from durance vile, but from the restraints of this life altogether. —  The Floating Light of the Goodwin Sands
  • I call that mind free which is jealous of its own freedom, which guards itself from being merged in others, which guards its empire over itself as nobler than the empire of the world Be free--not chiefly from the iron chain But from the one which passion forges--be The master of thyself. —  Architects of Fate or, Steps to Success and Power
  • We're free, my lad--free; and I should just like to have a cut at any one as zays we aren't. —  Nic Revel A White Slave's Adventures in Alligator Land
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

new ·  full ·  clear ·  safe

Used in the same contextWord Family

free:   freer ·  freest ·  freeing ·  freed ·  frees
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English fre, from Old English frēo. V., from Middle English freen, from Old English frēon, to love, set free; see prī- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English free, fre, freo, also fri, fry, from Anglo-Saxon freó, frió, frig, frī, fry¯ = Old Saxon frī (in frīlīc, free-born) = OFries. frī = Dutch vrij = Middle Low German vrī, vrīg, vrig, Low German fri (later Icelandic frō, frī = Swedish Danish fri) = Old High German frī, Middle High German vrī, German frei = Gothic (Moesogothic) freis (accusative masculine frijana; stem frija-), free; orig. meaning apparently ‘loved, spared, favored,’ hence ‘left at liberty’; in active sense, ‘loving, sparing, generous’; cf. Sanskrit priya, dear, from √ prī, please. See the related words friend, frith, Friday, Frigga, etc.
  2. from free, adjective
  3. from Middle English freen, freoʒen, from Anglo-Saxon freón, freógan, free (from freó, free) (= OFries. friaia, fraia, fria = Middle Low German vrien, vrigen = Old High German frījan, Middle High German vrīen, vrījen, vrigen, G. (be-) freien = Icelandic fria = Swedish fria = Danish fri, make free from), mixed with the more orig. verb freón, freógan, love, = Old Saxon *frihōn, friehan = Dutch vrijen = Middle Low German vrien, vrigen, Low German frijen = MG. vrīen, German freien = Icelandic fria = Swedish fria = Dan, fri, court, woo, make love to, = Gothic (Moesogothic) frijōn, friōn, love. See friend, orig. present participle of the verb freón, freógan, love.
 

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