free speech

noun

: speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

also : the right to such speech

… speakers were allowed to exercise their constitutional right of free speech …

—Harold Ickes

Examples of free speech in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, claiming the credentialing policy violates the journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. —Michael Kunzelman, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026

The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December, claiming the credentialing policy violates the journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. —ABC News, 6 Mar. 2026

In announcing her decision, Gonzalez Rogers suggested more legal wrangling could lay ahead for the developers’ free speech arguments. —Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 6 Mar. 2026

ByteDance argued the law violated the free speech rights of the company and its millions of users. —Carrie Johnson, NPR, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1765, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for free speech

• beseech
• impeach
• outreach
• beach
• beech
• bleach
• breach
• breech
• each
• keech
• leach
• leech

Kids Definition

free speech

noun

: speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

also : the right to such speech

Legal Definition

free speech

noun

1

: speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

setting off an alarm bell is not free speech

—A. M. Dershowitz

2

: freedom of speech

an unconstitutional restraint on free speech

—National Law Journal