Meaning & use
free
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Costing nothing; given or available without payment.
Grammar: Usually after a linking verb or before a noun: admission is free, a free sample.
Patterns
- free of charge
- free for someone
Entry to the museum is free on Sundays.
The shop gave out a free sample of the new cheese.
Children under five travel free on the bus.
adjectivecomparable
Not tied, held or imprisoned, and able to move or act as you wish.
Grammar: Often followed by to do something: free to leave.
Patterns
- free to do something
- free from something
After ten years, he was a free man again.
You are free to leave whenever you like.
The dog broke loose and ran free across the field.
adjectivecomparable
Not occupied, not busy and available for use or for doing something.
Grammar: Used about time, places and people: a free seat, free this weekend.
Patterns
- free to do something
- free for something
Is this seat free?
I am free after four o'clock if you want to meet.
She spends her free time painting.
adjectiveafter a verb
Without something unpleasant or harmful, used with of or from.
Grammar: Always followed by of or from: free of worry, free from pain.
Patterns
- free of something
- free from something
The water is free of any harmful chemicals.
He finally felt free from worry.
The room was free of dust.
verbtransitive
To let someone or something go from prison, a trap or an obligation.
Grammar: Takes an object: free the birds, free someone from debt.
Patterns
- free someone from something
- free something up
Rescue workers freed the climber from the rocks.
The new software frees up hours of time each week.
The court freed the prisoner after the retrial.
Word forms
| third person singular | frees |
|---|---|
| past tense | freed |
| past participle | freed |
| -ing form | freeing |
| comparative | freer |
| superlative | freest |
Common combinations
- free of charge
- The brochure is available free of charge.
- free time
- What do you do in your free time?
- set someone free
- They set the hostages free.
- feel free to
- Feel free to ask questions at any time.
- free from
- The report was free from errors.
- free up
- Deleting old files will free up space.
Synonyms and how they differ
- complimentary
- Complimentary is a more formal word for free, used when a business gives something as a courtesy.
- liberated
- Liberated is stronger and suggests being rescued from control, not just being unrestricted.
- available
- Available says something can be used or reached, while free adds that nobody else is using it.
- release
- Release is the more formal verb for letting someone go, while free is more general and also covers unblocking objects.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: free or freely?
free vs freely
Freely is the adverb meaning without restriction, as in speak freely; it does not mean for no cost, which is free.
Practice
Which sentence uses free to mean not busy?
Choose one answer.
Free on Friday evening means available. The tour is free of cost, the prisoner is released, and free of sugar means lacking sugar.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “free”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.