# free
## English
### Etymology

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 (“pleased, loved”), from *preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend.
Germanic cognates include West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), Low German free (“free”), German frei (“free”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian fri (“free”).
Other cognates include Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “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").
The verb comes 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.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: frē, IPA: /fɹiː/, [fɹɪi̯]
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iː
* Homophone: three (th-fronting)

### Adjective

free (comparative freer or more free, superlative freest or most free)
* (social) Unconstrained.
    Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered, quit
    Antonyms: constrained, restricted
    He was given free rein to do whatever he wanted.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.
** 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock: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 […] .”
** 2013 August 10, Schumpeter, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848: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.
** Not imprisoned or enslaved.
    Antonyms: bound, enslaved, imprisoned
    Free Blacks
    a free man
** Generous; liberal.
    He's very free with his money.
** (obsolete) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
*** 1679, John Dryden, Oedipus: A Tragedy, page 59:My hands are guilty, but my heart is free.
** Without obligations.
    free time
** To be enjoyed by anyone freely.
    a free school
*** 1590-2, William Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, I, ii:Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?
** (of a government, country) Upholding individual rights.
    Synonym: nonauthoritarian
    Antonyms: unfree, authoritarian
    the Free World
    This is a free country.
** (software) With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.
    Synonyms: libre, free as in speech, free as in freedom
    Antonyms: proprietary, nonfree
    Coordinate terms: gratis, free as in beer
    OpenOffice is free software.
** (software) Intended for release, as opposed to a checked version.
* Obtainable without any payment.
** 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845: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.
    Synonyms: free of charge, gratis, costless, feeless; free as in beer
    Antonym: see at nonfree
    Coordinate terms: libre, free as in speech, free as in freedom
    The government provides free health care.
    It's free real estate.
** (by extension, chiefly used in advertising) Complimentary.
    Buy a TV to get a free DVD player!
* (abstract) Unconstrained.
** (algebra, of an algebraic structure) In any of various technical senses generic, universal.
*** (most generally, category theory, of an object $F$ in a concrete category, with respect to a set $X$ and a map $i$ from $X$ to the underlying set of $F$) Such that any map $f$ from $X$ to the underlying set of an object $A$ in the same category as $F$ induces a map ${\bar {f}}$ from $F$ to $A$ which is compatible with $f$ (i.e. such that $f={\bar {f}}\circ i$).
*** (group theory, of a group) 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.
*** (commutative algebra, of a module) Having a linearly independent set of generators (called a basis).
** (logic, of a variable) Unconstrained by quantifiers.
    Antonym: bound
    $z$ is the free variable in $\forall x\exists y:xy=z$.
** (programming) Unconstrained of identifiers, not bound.
    Synonym: unbound
    Antonym: bound
** (linguistics) (of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
* (physical) Unconstrained.
** Unobstructed, without blockages.
    Synonyms: clear, unobstructed
    Antonyms: blocked, obstructed
    the drain was free
** Unattached or uncombined.
    Synonyms: loose, unfastened; see also Thesaurus:loose
    a free radical
** Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.
    You can sit on this chair; it's free.
** (botany, mycology) Not attached; loose.
    In this group of mushrooms, the gills are free.
*** 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 7:Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute […]
** (military) Of a rocket or missile: not under the control of a guidance system after being launched.
* Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.
    Synonym: without
    We had a wholesome, filling meal, free of meat.  I would like to live free from care in the mountains.
** 1679-1715, Gilbert Burnet, The History of the Reformation of the Church of England:princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC: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.
* (dated) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
    a free horse
* (dated) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.
** 1697, John Dryden, “Part 3, line 1245”, in The Hind and the Panther:He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, / Free of his farm.
* (UK, law, obsolete) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.
    free service;  free socage
* (law) Privileged or individual; proprietary.
    Antonyms: common, nonproprietary
    a free fishery;  a free warren

#### Usage notes

* The comparatives free-er and freeër and superlatives free-est and freeëst are also attested but rare.

#### Antonyms

    The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.
* unfree

#### Hyponyms

    The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.
* -free

#### Derived terms

* break free
* cofree
* copyfree
* double free
* enfree
* feel free
* first bite free
* folkfree
* footloose and fancy free
* free Abelian group, free abelian group
* freeable
* freeaboo
* free agency
* free agent
* free algebra
* free alongside
* free alongside ship
* free alongside ships
* free and clear
* free and easy, free-and-easy
* free as a bird
* free as in beer
* free as in freedom
* free as in speech
* free association
* free as the wind
* free ball, freeball
* freebander
* freebanding
* free base
* freebase
* free bench
* freebirth
* free-blown
* freeblown
* free board
* free body
* free body diagram
* free-body diagram
* free-boob
* free Boolean algebra
* freebooter
* freeborn
* free box
* FreeBSD
* freeburn
* free cash flow
* free category
* free cell formation
* freechapel
* Free China
* free church
* free city
* Free City of Tri-Insula
* free-climb
* freeclimb
* free climber, free climbing, free-climbing
* free clinic
* free clothes association
* free coinage
* free communism, free communist
* free companion
* freeconomics
* free convection
* free-cooling
* free corps
* free country
* Freecycle
* freecycle
* free day
* free diver, free-diver
* free diving, free-diving
* freedom
* freedom ain't free, freedom is not free, freedom isn't free, freedom's not free
* free edge
* free electron
* free energy
* free enterprise
* free-exercise clause
* free expression
* freefall
* freefaller
* free fall, free-fall
* free-fall time
* free fatty acid
* free-feed
* free-fire
* free float, free-floating
* free-floating planet
* freeflow
* free-flowing
* free-fly
* free-flying
* free-for-all
* free form, free-form
* Free France
* free-from
* freegan
* free grace
* free group
* freehand
* freehanded
* free hand, free-hand, free-handed, free-handedly, free-handedness
* free-hanging
* freehearted
* free-hearted, free-heartedly, free-heartedness
* free-heel skiing
* free helicopter ride
* freeholding
* freehood
* free house
* freehub
* free imperial city
* free indirect discourse
* free indirect speech
* free indirect style
* freeish
* free jazz
* Free Kirk
* freelance
* free lance
* Freelander
* free leg
* free library
* freeline
* free list
* free liver
* free-liver, free-living
* free-loader
* freeloader
* freelook
* free love, free lover
* free lunch
* freely
* freemail
* Freeman
* freeman
* free market, free-market, free marketeer, free-marketeer, free marketeering, free-market fundamentalism, free-marketism
* freemason
* Freemason
* free-milling
* freeminer
* freemium
* free-mix
* freemix
* free module
* free monoid
* free morpheme
* freeness
* Freenet
* free neutron
* free object
* free of charge
* free of the city
* free on board
* free pass
* free period
* freephone
* free port
* freepost
* free press
* free product
* free radical
* free range, free-range, free-ranging
* free reed
* free rein (or free reign)
* free ride, free-ride, free rider, free-rider problem
* free roam, free-roam, free-roaming
* freeroll
* freerun
* free run
* free runner, free-running, free running, freerunning
* free school movement
* free semigroup
* freesheet
* free sheet, free-sheet
* freeship
* free shop
* free silver
* free silverite
* freeskiing
* Free-Soilism
* free solo, free-solo, free soloist
* freesome
* Free Soviets
* free space
* free-speaking
* free speech, free-speecher, free speech zone
* free spin
* free spirit, free-spirited
* free-spoken
* freespool
* freestanding
* free-standing
* free state
* freester
* freestone
* free-stone
* freestore
* free store
* freestream
* free-style
* free substitution
* free sugar
* free surface
* free surface effect
* free-swimming
* freetail
* free-tailed bat
* free tekno
* free termineme
* free thinker
* freethinker
* free-thinker, free-thinking
* freethinking
* free thought
* free throw, free-throw lane, free-throw line, free throw percentage
* free time
* free to air, free-to-air
* free-tongued
* free to play, free-to-play
* Freetown
* free trade, free trade area, free-trade area, free trader
* free trial
* free-turbine engine
* free ultrafilter
* free university
* free up
* free use
* free variable
* free variation
* free verse
* free vote
* freeware
* free warren
* free water
* freeway
* free weight
* freewheel, free-wheeling
* free-will
* free will, free-willer, free will theorem
* freewoman
* free world
* freewriting
* free zone
* get out of jail free card, get-out-of-jail-free card
* Gibbs free energy
* go free
* half-free
* home free
* it's a free country
* land of the free
* leader of the free world
* live rent-free in someone's head, live rent free in someone's head
* make free of
* make free with
* mean free path
* mean free time
* no free lunch theorem
* non-free software
* olly olly oxen free
* overfree
* permafree
* quasifree
* region free
* semifree
* set free
* the best things in life are free
* there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, there's no such thing as a free lunch
* there is no free lunch
* there is no such thing as a free lunch
* topfree
* uncoated free sheet
* walk free
* weapons free
* Wee Free
* why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

#### Related terms

* friend

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Adverb

free (comparative more free, superlative most free)
* Without needing to pay.
    Synonyms: for free, for nothing, gratis
    I got this bike free.
** 1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 714: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.
* (obsolete) Freely; willingly.
** c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII, published 1623:I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.

#### Translations
### 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.
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 5:Pro. […] Spirit, fine ſpirit, Ile free thee / Within two dayes for this.
* (transitive) To rid of something that confines or oppresses. [with from]
** 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564: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."
* (transitive, programming) To relinquish (previously allocated memory) to the system.
** 2002, Jesse Liberty, SAMS Teach Yourself C++ in 24 Hours, page 148:There is no way to access that original area of memory, nor is there any way to free it before the program ends.

#### Synonyms

* befree
* emancipate
* let loose
* liberate
* manumit
* release
* unchain
* unfetter
* unshackle

#### Derived terms

* befree
* free up

#### Translations
### Noun

free (plural frees)
* (Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
** 2006, :
    Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.
* (soccer) A free transfer.
** 2011 September 21, Sam Lyon, “Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham”, in BBC Sport‎:Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.
* (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.
    The team won the 200 meters free relay.

#### Translations
### References

* “free”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “free”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* ↑ "frei" in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

### Anagrams

* feer, fere, reef

## Galician
### Verb

free
* inflection of frear:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Low German
### Alternative forms

* frie (more common)

### Etymology

From Middle Low German vrîe, variant of vrî, from Old Saxon frī, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (“beloved”). Compare Dutch vrij, West Frisian frij, English free, German frei.

### Adjective

free (comparative fre'er, superlative freest)
* (rather rare) free

#### Derived terms

* Freeheit