First recorded in 1945–50
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They should observe a drone-operation center and learn about the enterprise and wit of the private citizens who are innovating, adapting and making Ukraine a promising place in the free world to do business.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
"The soldiers who once called each other Redcoats and Yankees became the Tommies and the GIs who together saved the free world," he said.
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
The Dalai Lama has previously suggested that his successor would be from "the free world", that is, outside China.
From BBC • Jul. 2, 2025
On the one hand, it heralded an era of American leadership of the free world.
From Slate • May 12, 2025
How do you explain to an innocent citizen of the free world the importance of a credit default swap on a double-A tranche of a subprime-backed collateralized debt obligation?
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
