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.
For decades, the standard advice for getting ahead in your career was simple: Act like a free agent, changing employers for the best opportunities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
Conte, who played for Juventus and Italy in a stellar career, is a free agent after leaving Napoli at the end of last season.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
They have received a return on their investment greater than any expensive free agent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Eriksen, who has not played since June, joined Wolfsburg as a free agent a year ago after leaving Manchester United and made 34 appearances for the club.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
In Mendel’s experiments, every gene had behaved like an independent entity—a free agent.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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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.
