Showing results for free vote. Search instead for freewrote.

free vote

British

noun

a parliamentary division in which members are not constrained by a party whip

"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

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.

MSPs were granted a free vote on the proposals, meaning they were not whipped to vote along party lines.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2026

All three Senedd parties had a free vote the last time the matter came to the Senedd.

From BBC • Jun. 25, 2025

Like MPs, peers will get a free vote, meaning they are allowed to follow their conscience rather than orders from party managers.

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2025

As is usual for matters of conscience, MPs will get a free vote, meaning that they do not have to follow any particular party line.

From BBC • Jun. 19, 2025

She had at last a free vote, and rejected the Lecompton Constitution, land grant and all, by a majority of more than ten thousand.

From Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 From Lincoln to Garfield, with a Review of the Events Which Led to the Political Revolution of 1860 by Blaine, James Gillespie

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