free agent

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noun

a person who is self-determining and is not responsible for their actions to any authority.

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.

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THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of free agent

First recorded in 1840–50

OTHER WORDS FROM free agent

free agency, free agentry, noun

Words nearby free agent

Frederiksberg, Fredonia, Fredric, Fredrikstad, free, free agent, free air, free-air correction, free alongside ship, free and clear, free and easy

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use free agent in a sentence

Watt, who turns 32 next month, will become a free agent and can sign with any team after his release is official.
J.J. Watt will be released by Houston Texans at his request|Mark Maske|February 12, 2021|Washington Post
This baseball offseason, like the 46 before it in the free agent era, has shown once again that nothing, not even the economic damage of a pandemic, can keep team owners from falling in love with star players, and the hope that they symbolize.
MLB teams can buy hope easier than championships|Thomas M. Boswell|February 12, 2021|Washington Post
Now the team has Heinicke and probably will re-sign Kyle Allen, an exclusive rights free agent, sometime before March 17.
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke signs two-year contract to return to Washington Football Team|Sam Fortier|February 10, 2021|Washington Post
He preferred to study game tape, to evaluate free agents and college prospects for the draft.
Marty Schottenheimer’s legacy can be measured in teams’ regret over letting him go|Leonard Shapiro|February 9, 2021|Washington Post

One player to keep an eye on is Jacoby Brissett, who is a free agent and played previously in New England.
The 10 biggest roster questions in the NFL as the offseason begins|John Clayton|February 9, 2021|Washington Post
He's never gone free agent and consequently plays for a salary that is half that of players who've had half his career.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up|Tom Boswell|September 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Meanwhile, the free agent Incognito recently sought help for “severe mental stress”.
First Mega-Deal Is Done as the NFL’s Free Agent Scrap Begins|Ben Teitelbaum|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This man, more than any other free agent, needs to find a new team and receive a paycheck.
First Mega-Deal Is Done as the NFL’s Free Agent Scrap Begins|Ben Teitelbaum|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While Collins is a free agent now, he has ample opportunities.
Meet Jason Collins, the First Gay Athlete in Major American Sports|Kevin Fallon|April 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Collins is in fact a free agent, meaning he is not signed to a particular team as of now.
Yes He Did! Jason Collins Answers the Coming Out Call for Gay Athletes|Nicholas McCarvel|April 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
God has created forces, and man, a free agent, employs those forces for good or for evil.
The Seven Cardinal Sins: Envy and Indolence|Eugne Sue
No longer was he bound by his job; he was now a free agent and could do as he pleased.
The Range Boss|Charles Alden Seltzer
He does not look upon himself as a free agent, working out his own personal salvation.
Revolution and Other Essays|Jack London
The presence of your Scottish Guard, and two hundred choice lances, will serve to show that you are a free agent.
Quentin Durward|Sir Walter Scott
None of these European governments in the nineteenth century was in fact a free agent.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind|Herbert George Wells

British Dictionary definitions for free agent

free agent

noun

a person whose actions are not constrained by others

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with free agent

free agent

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.”

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]

free agent

Origin of free agent

OTHER WORDS FROM free agent

Words nearby free agent

Words related to free agent

How to use free agent in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for free agent

Other Idioms and Phrases with free agent