duty-free
adjective or adverb
ˌdü-tē-ˈfrē 
ˌdyü-,
ˈd(y)ü-tē-ˌfrē
1
: without payment of customs duties : free from duties
imported duty-free
duty-free goods
2
: relating to or selling duty-free goods
a duty-free shop
Examples of duty-free in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Before August 2025, Americans could import packages valued under $800 duty-free — a provision that had quietly powered the rise of online shopping and direct-to-consumer retail.
—
Jay Caruso, The Washington Examiner, 13 Mar. 2026
Tax-free shopping in Europe doesn’t necessarily make the items duty-free back home.
—Lane Nieset, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Mar. 2026
Ramaphosa said efforts to maintain ties with the US were bearing fruit and pointed to the fact that South Africa was not removed from the AGOA trade program, which gives some African countries duty-free access to the US, when the pact was recently extended by a year.
—semafor.com, 6 Mar. 2026
New York woman Stacey Medina Guzman, 24, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly smuggling 12 bricks of cocaine in duty-free alcohol boxes on a commercial flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston Logan International Airport.
—Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for duty-free
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Jay Caruso, The Washington Examiner, 13 Mar. 2026
Tax-free shopping in Europe doesn’t necessarily make the items duty-free back home.
—Lane Nieset, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Mar. 2026
Ramaphosa said efforts to maintain ties with the US were bearing fruit and pointed to the fact that South Africa was not removed from the AGOA trade program, which gives some African countries duty-free access to the US, when the pact was recently extended by a year.
—semafor.com, 6 Mar. 2026
New York woman Stacey Medina Guzman, 24, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly smuggling 12 bricks of cocaine in duty-free alcohol boxes on a commercial flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston Logan International Airport.
—Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for duty-free
Cite this Entry
“Duty-free.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duty-free. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.
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