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• free form
  free form

  noun

  a shape having an irregular contour, chiefly used in nonrepresentational art and industrial design.
• free-form
  free-form

  adjective

  characterized by free form.

free form

¹ American  

noun

1. a shape having an irregular contour, chiefly used in nonrepresentational art and industrial design.

2. Linguistics. a linguistic form that can occur by itself, as fire, book, or run.

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free-form ² American  

[free-fawrm, free-fawrm] / ˈfriˌfɔrm, ˈfriˈfɔrm /

Or freeform

adjective

1. characterized by free form.

   free-form sculpture.

2. not organized or planned in a conventional way.

   a free-form international conglomerate.

3. encouraged to function or evolve without advance planning; spontaneous.

   free-form management.

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adverb

1. without restrictions or preconceptions.

   The children were allowed to paint free-form.

free form British  

noun

1. an irregular flowing shape, often used in industrial or fabric design

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adjective

1. freely flowing, spontaneous

Etymology

Origin of free form¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Origin of free-form²

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

free form free-form

Slab pies and galettes are rustic and free form, but that doesn't mean they're ugly.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2021

“Los Olvidados” progressed like a soap opera, one scene cutting into the seemingly unrelated next one — highlights being jet-speed free form and mournful march sections with beautiful solos from Shepp and a wah-wah-muted ElSaffar.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 11, 2019

“It was very free form and very free thinking,” Chase adds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2019

For one moment, there is only the molten dawn sun lighting the sky a poet red and the air racing cooly past him as he drops in free form flight.

From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2018

Premolars, 2—2/1—1; molars, 3—3/3—3; gnawing teeth smooth, orange-coloured, or brown; no cheek pouches; mammæ three or four pairs; first upper premolar soon lost in many cases; limbs free; form agile; tail long and very bushy.

From Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon by Robert Armitage Sterndale

Its asymmetrical, free-form plate-glass top rests on a base made of two identical, U-shaped wooden legs —a configuration that blurs distinctions between primitivism and classicism, the organic and the engineered, furniture and art.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

“The jewelry is much more free-form and fun versus the more serious stuff that feels heavy to me,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025

The free-form jazz in the film makes the atmosphere almost farcical, a choice that feels even more strange when Bong introduces the apartment complex’s janitor, who has a taste for dog meat.

From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2025

Names splattered in from leftfield, a free-form approach to positions, a delicious cheese-dream of a bench – a side picked like Jackson Pollock paints.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025

The woman who'd let us in was mixing drinks behind a handsome free-form bar which was large enough to have graced a night club.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison