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

For Ginsberg, ever-attuned to the rhythmic physicality of verse, the central atom of poetry wasn’t the line or the foot, but rather the breath, emphasizing that his were longer than his free verse hero Whitman because the good, grey poet probably had smaller lungs. —Literary Hub, 3 June 2026

The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. —Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026

Told in a first-person, free verse style, her struggle to overcome a family tragedy, an ecological catastrophe, and the Great Depression is harrowing yet hopeful. —Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 28 Feb. 2026

Nevada: National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Since 1985, ranchers, bull riders, and wranglers with a penchant for rhyming couplets and free verse have clambered to Elko, Nevada, for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. —Ellen Carpenter, AFAR Media, 15 Jan. 2026

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