free soil
noun
a region, especially a U.S. territory, prohibiting slavery prior to the Civil War.
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free soil
1 Americannoun
U.S. History.
free-soil
2
American
[free-soil]
/ ˈfriˈsɔɪl /
adjective
U.S. History.
-
pertaining to or opposing the extension of slavery in the Territories.
-
pertaining to or characteristic of the Free Soil party.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of free soil1
An Americanism dating back to 1840–50
Origin of free-soil2
An Americanism dating back to 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.
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Mr. Specht follows the battle between free soil and slavery to Pottawatomie Creek, Kan., in 1856.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Residents who live in the KCD service area, which includes most of the cities and unincorporated areas in King County, are eligible for up to five free soil tests.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2023
She escaped to free soil in Pennsylvania more than a century and a half ago, only returning to the Eastern Shore for the rescues of enslaved people.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
Send items you don’t want to include, like bones or moldy cheese, to professional waste treaters and use the rest of your household food waste to create excellent and free soil amendments for your garden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2022
Arriving on New York’s free soil, he later wrote, “A new world burst upon my agitated vision.”
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
“The free-soil idea, which took root in New York, would shape national politics.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Scott’s supporters enlisted, pro bono, the famous free-soil politician and lawyer Montgomery Blair to take his case, and under Blair’s legal leadership, Scott appealed to the U.S.
From New York Times ● Dec. 21, 2022
The town had been founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Society, which funded antislavery settlement in the territory and were determined that Kansas should be a free-soil state.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014
Finally, in Kansas, the free-soil majority voted against the pro-slavery constitution in a fair election.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2011
I find that it was more frequently done in the Northern or free-soil States than in those which admitted slavery, as might have been expected.
From North America — Volume 1 by Anthony Trollope
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
