free agent
Americannoun
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a person who is self-determining and is not responsible for their actions to any authority.
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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.
noun
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A person not under compulsion or constraint, not responsible to any authority for his or her actions. For example, After he quit his job, he decided to pursue the same line of work as a free agent . Originally used to describe a person subject to the philosophic concept of free will (as opposed to determinism), this expression was first recorded in 1662. Later it was extended to mean “someone not under obligation to an authority.”
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A professional athlete who is free to sign a contract with any team. For example, After he was released from the Yankees, he was a free agent and could shop around for the team that offered the most money . [Second half of 1900s]
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of free agent
First recorded in 1840–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But when the Clippers landed Leonard as a free agent, beating out rivals such as the Los Angeles Lakers, it signalled a new era.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
He has reportedly been training at the Spanish Football Federation's facilities over the summer with compatriot and fellow free agent Joselu.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
If a player goes pro and then returns to school after going through the draft process, it’s unclear whether he would be eligible for the next draft or just become a free agent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
If Mateta had successfully argued his contract is void it would possibly set the wheels in motion towards the forward becoming a free agent before the expiry of his Palace deal next year.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
In Mendel’s experiments, every gene had behaved like an independent entity—a free agent.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
