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

As podcast audiences continue to grow, so does the opportunity for business owners and freelancers to reach more potential customers through guest appearances. — Chelsea Tobin, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026

Jockeys don’t fare all that much better, as freelancers in a job with alarmingly high injury rates. — Rebecca Egan McCarthy, New Yorker, 21 July 2026

ScreenSkills is a training body that represents the interests of industry workers and freelancers and the report painted a mixed picture of the overall landscape. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 14 July 2026

Freelancers are paid by the answer at rates that vary widely depending on the topic and the freelancer’s experience. — Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for freelancer

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