free verse
Americannoun
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free verses
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of free verse
First recorded in 1905–10
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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.
Singsong rhyme and meter are out; free verse and wistfulness are in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Short chapters presented in free verse make this an easy book to read, though it’s the most sober of the three under review, thanks to the more realistic career of its protagonist.
From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2022
Renshi is a kind of Japanese collaborative poetry that is more open-ended free verse than older forms like “renku.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 8, 2022
“Looks kind of like free verse, doesn’t it?”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
