Meaning & use
free range
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Describing farm animals, or the eggs and meat they produce, that are allowed to move around outdoors rather than being kept inside cages or sheds.
Grammar: Before a noun: free-range eggs; after a verb: the chickens are free range.
Patterns
- free-range eggs
- free-range chicken
- be free range
We buy free-range eggs from a farm down the road.
The label says the pork comes from free-range pigs.
The farmer insists his hens are truly free range.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Allowed to move about, play or make choices with relatively little adult supervision, used of children or parenting.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: free-range kids.
Patterns
- free-range parenting
- free-range kids
They are raising their children in a free-range style and let them walk to school alone.
Free-range parenting means letting kids learn by trying things.
He had a free-range childhood in the countryside.
Common combinations
- free-range eggs
- Free-range eggs usually cost a little more.
- free-range chicken
- She only buys free-range chicken.
- free-range farming
- Free-range farming needs more land per bird.
- free-range parenting
- Free-range parenting has been debated in the media.
- free-range pork
- The butcher sells free-range pork from local farms.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pasture-raised
- Pasture-raised suggests animals spend most of their time grazing outside, which is a stricter claim than free range.
- outdoor-reared
- Outdoor-reared is a British farming term meaning raised partly outdoors, and it is not the same as free range.
- organic
- Organic concerns feed and chemicals in the whole production system, while free range concerns only outdoor access.
- cage-free
- Cage-free means birds are not caged but may still be kept indoors, so it promises less than free range.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: free range or cage-free?
free range vs cage-free
Cage-free birds avoid cages but may be crowded in barns. Free-range birds must also have access to the outdoors.
Practice
The label on the box reads 'free-range eggs'. What does it suggest about the hens?
Choose one answer.
Free-range means the animals have access to open air. It says nothing certain about organic feed, and cages are the opposite of free range.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “free range”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.