free verse

noun

: verse whose meter is irregular in some respect or whose rhythm is not metrical

Examples of free verse in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Though most of Milosz’s poetry was written in free verse, no effort has been made to force the English versions into the complicated poetic forms the poet sometimes preferred — that would have required a different sense of obligation. —William Logan, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025

The award-winning work, told through a mix of free verse and haiku, offers a poignant and nuanced look at a young person growing up Black in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, finding herself through the art of writing. —The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2024

Here are some of Robert Frost’s insights into how poetry works its magic: Writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net. —Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2024

Rhyming poems, like Reed’s, have fallen out of style this century in favor of free verse. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1813, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for free verse

• adverse
• averse
• coerce
• disburse
• disperse
• diverse
• immerse
• inverse
• obverse
• perverse
• rehearse
• reverse

Kids Definition

free verse

noun

: poetry that does not rhyme and does not have a regular rhythm