free agent

noun

1. a person who is self-determining and is not responsible for their actions to any authority.
2. a professional athlete who is not under contract and is free to auction off their services and sign a contract with the team that offers the most money.

free agent

noun

1. a person whose actions are not constrained by others

Other Words From

• free agency free agentry noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of free agent¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Watt, who turns 32 next month, will become a free agent and can sign with any team after his release is official.

From Washington Post

This baseball offseason, like the 46 before it in the free agent era, has shown once again that nothing, not even the economic damage of a pandemic, can keep team owners from falling in love with star players, and the hope that they symbolize.

From Washington Post

Now the team has Heinicke and probably will re-sign Kyle Allen, an exclusive rights free agent, sometime before March 17.

From Washington Post

He preferred to study game tape, to evaluate free agents and college prospects for the draft.

From Washington Post

One player to keep an eye on is Jacoby Brissett, who is a free agent and played previously in New England.

From Washington Post

He's never gone free agent and consequently plays for a salary that is half that of players who've had half his career.

From The Daily Beast

Meanwhile, the free agent Incognito recently sought help for “severe mental stress”.

From The Daily Beast

This man, more than any other free agent, needs to find a new team and receive a paycheck.

From The Daily Beast

While Collins is a free agent now, he has ample opportunities.

From The Daily Beast

Collins is in fact a free agent, meaning he is not signed to a particular team as of now.

From The Daily Beast

God has created forces, and man, a free agent, employs those forces for good or for evil.

From Project Gutenberg

No longer was he bound by his job; he was now a free agent and could do as he pleased.

From Project Gutenberg

He does not look upon himself as a free agent, working out his own personal salvation.

From Project Gutenberg

The presence of your Scottish Guard, and two hundred choice lances, will serve to show that you are a free agent.

From Project Gutenberg

None of these European governments in the nineteenth century was in fact a free agent.

From Project Gutenberg