unfettered
Britishadjective
Explanation
The adjective unfettered describes something or someone uninhibited and unrestrained. If you write mysteries novels for a living you probably turn your unfettered imagination to murder and mayhem. Unfettered comes from the Old English root word fetor, which was a chain or shackle for the feet. Un- means "not," so originally the word literally meant "not chained or shackled." Today there isn't much real shackling going on, so the adjective unfettered mainly describes something that is free or unrestrained. You'll see such uses as unfettered emotions, unfettered stock market growth, and unfettered speech.
Vocabulary lists containing unfettered
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Unbroken
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "U"
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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.
And the unfettered skyline view, which could soon be lost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The amendment has few guardrails on how judicial elections will operate, giving the Legislature unfettered authority to set the rules.
From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2026
But his impenetrable prose -- used to avoid committing to any particular course -- and his confidence in unfettered markets and institutions to correct themselves frustrated critics, who believed the US economy needed stronger guardrails.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
"Under its rules the referee is the sole arbiter of the contest and retains the full and unfettered right to stop the contest at any time," it said.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
It was hard sometimes not to wish those days were back because there seemed something so old-fashioned, so wholesome, so simple and unfettered about them.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
