freelancer

noun

free·​lanc·​er ˈfrē-ˌlan(t)-sər 

plural freelancers

1

: a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer : freelance sense 1

hired a freelancer to write the article

… there were hundreds of photographers on the scene, some on assignment, some freelancers, most of them amateurs.

—Garrison Keillor

But while Renzo is the ultimate company man, a lifetime employee who reports to the same office every morning, Riccardo is the prototypical freelancer, a peripatetic problem-solver with five-dozen clients.

—Bruce Schoenfeld

2

: a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization : freelance sense 2b

[Anthony] Grafton contrasts public intellectuals outside and inside the universities, and he takes note of today's nostalgia for the freethinkers who lived and wrote independently of deans and classrooms. But it is good to be reminded that in that golden era of freelancers such as Wilson, H. L. Mencken, and Mary McCarthy, voices like theirs were also raised in universities.

—G. W. Bowersock

Examples of freelancer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Although video meetings and online communication platforms like Slack may have replaced some in-person interactions, most freelancers can’t avoid human conversations. —Chelsea Tobin, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025

Instead of quitting your job altogether, consider working part-time or seeing if your company would hire you as a freelancer. —Jasmin Suknanan, CNBC, 4 Aug. 2025

However, remote workers can apply for temporary residence as freelancers. —Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 3 Aug. 2025

His name is Hoàng Văn Danh, a freelancer who sold photos to UPI, AP’s main competitor. —Gary Knight, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for freelancer

• enhancer
• merganser
• romancer
• anser
• answer
• cancer
• dancer
• lancer
• anticancer
• necromancer