unfree
Americanadjective
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lacking liberty or freedom; under bondage or authoritarian rule; not having any personal choice.
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not free of charge; costing something.
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.
They had just fought a civil war over slavery, but Chinese immigration comes to be portrayed in the national press and in public opinion over time as unfree immigration.
From Slate • Mar. 16, 2026
The complex story of unfree Black people’s contribution begins in 1803, as France was trying to quell an uprising among the enslaved peoples of Haiti.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 1, 2025
The myth of a free man in an unfree society.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025
“For creative young people it’s a place they can come to find like-minded citizens and to get away from what’s happening in our country. It’s a little island of freedom in an unfree environment.”
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2024
Not only were Russian farms run on unfree labor, but they used very simple, old-fashioned methods of farming.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
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.
