unconfined
Britishadjective
-
not enclosed or restricted; free
-
(of an emotion) not restricted or disguised
unconfined joy
Explanation
If something is unconfined, it's free from physical restraint. Unlike chickens in industrial chicken farms, the unconfined chickens raised on real farms get to wander all they want. Confinement is enclosure, so something that is unconfined has no boundaries or limits. If you're super excited because you just won the lottery, your joy is unconfined. If you think that the world is tumbling into doom, then you are an unconfined pessimist. If you are released from prison after 20 years, it will feel strange and wonderful to be unconfined.
Vocabulary lists containing unconfined
"To Althea, from Prison" by Richard Lovelace
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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.
The heartstopping drama has been going on for an age, the feeling of panic and dread and then joy unconfined.
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
The unconfined space lets the land soak up floodwater, recharging groundwater while also protecting from flooding downstream land, including tribal and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2024
Computer modeling will be required to confirm if an unconfined flow passing over the pockmark field carries sufficient energy to erode and maintain the pockmarks.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2024
But unconfined by the impartiality requirements sacred to journalists, Navany harnessed the outrage generated by his work to mobilize Russians to take to the streets.
From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2024
"The shrill-voiced nightingale, Who at thy casement bower Pours out his breathless tale," reminds him of the questioning soul at the window of eternity," peering through panes on darkness unconfined."
From Vondel's Lucifer by Joost van den Vondel
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.
