a person who is free; a person who enjoys personal, civil, or political liberty.
a person who enjoys or is entitled to citizenship, franchise, or other special privilege.
a freeman of a city.
Douglas Southall 1886–1953, U.S. journalist and biographer.
Edward Augustus, 1823–92, English historian.
Mary E(leanor Wilkins), 1862–1930, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
a male given name.
a person who is not a slave or in bondage
a person who enjoys political and civil liberties; citizen
a person who enjoys a privilege or franchise, such as the freedom of a city
before 1000; Middle English freman, Old English frēoman. See free, man
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Caleb said he was told the mace went missing in the 19th Century when some men came from London to become freeman and were so cash-strapped they couldn't afford the fare home.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Tom Daley has been made an honorary freeman of Plymouth by the city council.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2021
I hesitated to include this 2013 drama, directed by Steve McQueen and adapted from the memoirs of Solomon Northup, an African-American freeman enslaved and sent to the South.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2019
“You are a fool, young man,” stormed New York Federalist Judge William Cooper to one sturdy freeman in 1792.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
While at the Pension Office, Jennings met a man named John Brooks Russell, a black freeman from Massachusetts.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
For Yonatan Freeman, an international relations expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the primary aim of the visit is to dispel reports of a cooling in relations between the allies.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Defining who is a journalist has not been hugely problematic,” said George Freeman, a lawyer who heads the Media Law Resource Center, a nonprofit that supports the media in legal matters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
And so Freeman held that this fact alone was sufficient to grant them constitutional protections under the Second Amendment.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Cadillac Chronicles” features Freeman riding in his 1974 Cadillac Eldorado with a musician, usually a hip-hop or R&B artist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
God crackles over the intercom and tells Mr. Freeman he’s late for a faculty meeting.
From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Lewis, who is himself a Freeman of the City, was photographed keeping the animals in check ahead of other freemen dressed in black hats and red and fur cloaks at the London Sheep Drive.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2024
A common species hunted by freemen and fugitives was the sperm whale, which was most famously represented as Moby Dick.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 17, 2022
Taking up the cry, mass rallies denounced the Kansas-Nebraska Act throughout the North, more convinced than ever that a Slave Power conspiracy would bar northern freemen from the West.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Nearly 180,000 freemen and freedmen would serve in the Union Army, bolstering the force as it fought a brutal war of attrition against the Confederacy.
From Slate ● Oct. 24, 2017
Caesar and his family rode in the widow’s buggy to the farms of freemen, they visited relatives on estates for the Lord’s holidays and New Year’s Day.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
