a shape having an irregular contour, chiefly used in nonrepresentational art and industrial design.
Linguistics. a linguistic form that can occur by itself, as fire, book, or run.
characterized by free form.
free-form sculpture.
not organized or planned in a conventional way.
a free-form international conglomerate.
encouraged to function or evolve without advance planning; spontaneous.
free-form management.
First recorded in 1945–50
First recorded in 1950–55
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Slab pies and galettes are rustic and free form, but that doesn't mean they're ugly.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2021
But celebrities don’t have a lock on this free form, open-mic talent show.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2020
Many were drawn to slam poetry’s free form, which rewards wordplay and can be less intimidating for those with no formal education.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2018
For one moment, there is only the molten dawn sun lighting the sky a poet red and the air racing cooly past him as he drops in free form flight.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2018
Up to that time it generally had a free form, with frequent 'running-on' of the sense from one line to the next and marked irregularity of pauses.
From A History of English Literature by Fletcher, Robert Huntington
It is a free-form essay in concrete and glass, with no formal entrance, no front or back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
“The jewelry is much more free-form and fun versus the more serious stuff that feels heavy to me,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
The free-form jazz in the film makes the atmosphere almost farcical, a choice that feels even more strange when Bong introduces the apartment complex’s janitor, who has a taste for dog meat.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2025
They developed a survey of multiple-choice questions, free-form text fields and rating scales and sent it to leading graduate school programs in animal behavior research across disciplines.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2024
Her spiky, free-form locs are improvisational jazz; they abide by no rules.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
