free agent
Americannoun
-
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.
noun
-
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]
Other Word Forms
- free agency noun
- free agentry noun
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.
He will earn $140 million—potentially rising to $150 million with performance-based incentives—and still become a free agent at the age of 28, three years later than he otherwise would.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
The so-called “transfer portal” – a period when college athletes make it known that they are willing to switch schools – operates like a free agent market in pro sports leagues.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2026
Weeks later, he became a free agent, signing a one-year, $21.05-million contract with the Boston Red Sox.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Huff was an undrafted free agent who played in college at Memphis before signing with the New York Jets in 2020.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
There’s no intermediate point in the process in which you confront the potential employer as a free agent, entitled to cut her own deal.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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.
