a person who is free; a person who enjoys personal, civil, or political liberty.
a person who enjoys or is entitled to citizenship, franchise, or other special privilege.
a freeman of a city.
Douglas Southall 1886–1953, U.S. journalist and biographer.
Edward Augustus, 1823–92, English historian.
Mary E(leanor Wilkins), 1862–1930, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
a male given name.
a person who is not a slave or in bondage
a person who enjoys political and civil liberties; citizen
a person who enjoys a privilege or franchise, such as the freedom of a city
before 1000; Middle English freman, Old English frēoman. See free, man
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 69-year-old, who had campaigned to make Southend-on-Sea a city and was posthumously made the first freeman of the new city, had served Southend West since 1997, and Basildon before that since 1983.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2022
She looked for a depiction of Balthazar or St. Maurice, two Africans who are portrayed in Renaissance art, and found a Balthazar made in Antwerp about 1515 that was modeled on a Black freeman.
From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2021
In fact, no defence based on so-called freeman on the land, sovereign citizen or legal name fraud theory has ever succeeded in court.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2021
“You are a fool, young man,” stormed New York Federalist Judge William Cooper to one sturdy freeman in 1792.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
While at the Pension Office, Jennings met a man named John Brooks Russell, a black freeman from Massachusetts.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Benge threw out Freeman at the plate in the sixth on a Rojas popout to right.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Look, Judge Freeman was a federal public defender for 13 years.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
And so Freeman held that this fact alone was sufficient to grant them constitutional protections under the Second Amendment.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Since then, that squad has been rejuvenated with exciting young talents - such as Henry Pollock, Freeman and Feyi-Waboso - while depth continues to be built.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
I began to wait for Mr. Freeman to come in from the yards, but when he did, he never noticed me, although I put a lot of feeling into “Good evening, Mr. Freeman.”
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
A common species hunted by freemen and fugitives was the sperm whale, which was most famously represented as Moby Dick.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 17, 2022
As in Plymouth, the freemen, or free adult males of Massachusetts, chose a council of assistants and made John Winthrop their governor.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
It’s the latest in an old fight, one that goes back to our Reconstruction, when freedmen, freemen, and their white allies tried to build true democracy in the former Confederacy.
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2017
Virginia required freemen to leave the state unless they legally requested to stay.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 14, 2016
The whites came to this land for a fresh start and to escape the tyranny of their masters, just as the freemen had fled theirs.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
