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• free soil
  free soil

  noun

  a region, especially a U.S. territory, prohibiting slavery prior to the Civil War.
• free-soil
  free-soil

  adjective

  pertaining to or opposing the extension of slavery in the Territories.

free soil

¹ American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. a region, especially a U.S. territory, prohibiting slavery prior to the Civil War.

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free-soil ² American  

[free-soil] / ˈfriˈsɔɪl /

adjective

U.S. History.

1. pertaining to or opposing the extension of slavery in the Territories.

2. pertaining to or characteristic of the Free Soil party.

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Other Word Forms

• free-soilism noun

Etymology

Origin of free soil¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Origin of free-soil²

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

Residents who live in the KCD service area, which includes most of the cities and unincorporated areas in King County, are eligible for up to five free soil tests.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2023

She escaped to free soil in Pennsylvania more than a century and a half ago, only returning to the Eastern Shore for the rescues of enslaved people.

From New York Times • Jun. 21, 2022

So what happened was, Dred Scott was an enslaved man whose owners had taken him to free soil, in Wisconsin and Illinois.

From Salon • Jul. 12, 2021

Free Black families who encountered her there may have clued her in about the legally free soil of California.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2021

Arriving on New York’s free soil, he later wrote, “A new world burst upon my agitated vision.”

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis