free love

American

noun

the doctrine or practice of having sexual relations or living together without legal marriage or continuing obligation.

free love British

noun

the practice of sexual relationships without fidelity to a single partner or without formal or legal ties

"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

Etymology

Origin of free love

First recorded in 1815–25

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.

The colony, The Times wrote, believes it can solve “without socialism, free love, and other vagaries of theorists, the ideal conditions of human life and association.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2023

“An Assassin in Utopia” links President James Garfield’s killer to an atmosphere of free love and religious fervor that gripped Oneida, N.Y., in the late 1800s.

From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2023

They sought to completely alter society and often advocated innovations like communal housing, free love, and women’s rights—all considered radical at the time.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Some, but not all, free love thinkers advocated against monogamy as a restriction of individual freedom.

From Salon • Oct. 8, 2022

He had learned from the past and knew change couldn’t just come from free love, peace, and brotherhood.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023