free verse
Americannoun
noun
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Etymology
Origin of free verse
First recorded in 1905–10
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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.
Singsong rhyme and meter are out; free verse and wistfulness are in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
But I tried writing this free verse thing, and I really liked it and wanted to write more things like that.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026
Short chapters presented in free verse make this an easy book to read, though it’s the most sober of the three under review, thanks to the more realistic career of its protagonist.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2022
Renshi is a kind of Japanese collaborative poetry that is more open-ended free verse than older forms like “renku.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
Feeling for the first time that I could speak to listening ears, I wrote a wild, crude poem in free verse, coining images of black hands playing, working, holding bayonets, stiffening finally in death ...
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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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.