free-range
Americanadjective
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(of livestock and domestic poultry) permitted to graze or forage for grain, etc., rather than being confined to a feedlot or a small enclosure.
a free-range pig.
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of, relating to, or produced by free-range animals.
free-range eggs.
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Informal. noting or relating to a style of child rearing in which parents allow their children to move about without constant adult supervision: free-range parents.
free-range kids;
free-range parents.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of free-range
First recorded in 1910–15
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.
“He has free range as long as it’s a shot he can make,” LeDuc said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026
In Kenya, much of what was once free range for elephants to roam has been subdivided for housing or farming.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026
One of the strategists has free range deciding when and how he will participate.
From New York Times • Apr. 28, 2024
For the next few weeks, they let their surviving animals free range during the day, unaware they would attract the big cats.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 1, 2023
In no time at all, they reached the prairie, where the wild cats and the chickens had free range and chased each other back and forth.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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.
