free city

noun

1. a city having an independent government and forming a sovereign state by itself.

free city

noun

1. a sovereign or autonomous city; city-state

Word History and Origins

Origin of free city¹

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

They are spread out now throughout the almost traffic and pedestrian- free city using different buildings as command bases.

From The Daily Beast

Ann Marlowe reports on an extraordinary utopian moment in the free city.

From The Daily Beast

Late in February insurrection broke out in the free city of Cracow.

From Project Gutenberg

Every free city, even an imperial village, had its own “law,” and these exist down to the present time.

From Project Gutenberg

"Sell me your clock: I have come to purchase it on the part of the free city of Hamburgh," was the calm, deliberate reply.

From Project Gutenberg

Under Charlemagne it became a free city and had for its device the equivalent of the word Liberty.

From Project Gutenberg

For three centuries the town was an imperial free city, and one of the most thriving in Germany.

From Project Gutenberg