free-range

[ free-reynj ]

adjective

(of livestock and domestic poultry) permitted to graze or forage for grain, etc., rather than being confined to a feedlot or a small enclosure: a free-range pig.
of, relating to, or produced by free-range animals: free-range eggs.

Informal. noting or relating to a style of child rearing in which parents allow their children to move about without constant adult supervision:free-range kids;free-range parents.

Origin of free-range

First recorded in 1910–15

Words Nearby free-range

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

How to use free-range in a sentence

Prince Charles has closed down his small free-range egg business after 24 of his beloved hens were killed by a fox.
Prince Charles's Chickens Killed By Foxes! | Tom Sykes | May 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
They have been raised like free-range chickens, and I am rather a Chinese chicken mom, which seems to make everyone happy!
Yiyun Li Takes on Evil in “Kinder Than Solitude” | Jane Ciabattari | February 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
You know labels like ‘organic,’ ‘free range,’ or ‘non GMO,’ but what exactly do they mean?
Big Idea: Farming Treats Cancer? | Daphne Miller | April 18, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Williams-Sonoma also offers a fresh free-range turkey, also from Willie Bird ranch.
The Best Turkeys for Thanksgiving | Jacquelynn D. Powers | November 15, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
Lenore Skenazy is a columnist at ParentDish.com and author of the book and blog, “ free-range Kids” (freerangekids.com).
Personal Trainers for Fat Pets | Lenore Skenazy | September 24, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST

It impounds the deer, but gives free range to the wolf and to his as pitiless two-legged brother, the crust hunter.
In New England Fields and Woods | Rowland E. Robinson
You'd better get your cow out of here; this isn't free range, you know.
The Main Chance | Meredith Nicholson
Perhaps the males were allowed free range, the females only being permitted at stated seasons to accompany them.
The Romance of Natural History, Second Series | Philip Henry Gosse
I doubt not but that it likes him better than the tending of apricots when he has the free range of the ale-houses to work on.
Judith Shakespeare | William Black
It is only when physical necessities have been met or ignored that the spirit of man has free range.
The Gate of Appreciation | Carleton Noyes

British Dictionary definitions for free-range

free-range

adjective

mainly British kept or produced in natural nonintensive conditions: free-range hens; free-range eggs

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

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