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make free with

Idioms  

  1. Take liberties with, treat very familiarly, as in That reporter makes free with the truth, or It's best not to make free with one's employees. This term was first recorded in 1714.

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.

Travers retained the right to pull the plug during development, and long after she’d lost the power to set terms, she continued to make free with her disapproval.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

“One could make free with others’ possessions then, because one would always be able to replace them, if necessary.”

From Slate • Aug. 5, 2014

They make free with George's flat, his booze and his good name.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some make free with great names, sign themselves "Napoleon," "George Washington," "Calvin Coolidge."

From Time Magazine Archive

Only two arrows came into the fort, one of which had the insolence to make free with my left leg.”

From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Parkman, Francis

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.