freestyle

noun, often attributive free·style \ ˈfrē-ˌstī(-ə)l \

Definition of freestyle

1 :a competition in which the contestant is given more latitude than in related events; especially :a swimming competition in which the swimmer may use any stroke

2 :crawl 2

—

freestyler

noun

See freestyle defined for English-language learners

See freestyle defined for kids

Recent Examples of freestyle from the Web

The lawsuit also accused the staff of failing to control skaters' activity on the ice and failing to limit where skaters could do freestyle moves.

— mikaela porter, Courant Community, "Skating Death Lawsuit Settled," 3 Aug. 2017
Chris Lillis is one of those athletes, and a rising star on the United States freestyle ski team.

— christa case bryant, The Christian Science Monitor, "How Winter Olympians prep in summertime: wheels, wet suits, and virtual reality," 1 Aug. 2017
The dance group Dogs Gone Dancing starred in one of the events, performing freestyle dance.

— gabriel nair, OregonLive.com, "Dogs of all shapes and sizes converge in Hillsboro," 19 July 2017
Coming up ▪ A free freestyle show is set for 9 p.m. Saturday at Hialeah Park.

— nick sortal, miamiherald, "Electronic table games give patrons a taste of the action," 11 July 2017
Twelve of the swims in Fallbrook resulted in new B times, and several team members swam in the 500-yard freestyle for the first time.

— dan hammonds, Ramona Sentinel, "Swimmers work on technique, turns and speed," 10 July 2017
In doing so, Teigen joins the musical canon of artists like the Migos and Ludacris who have used children's literature as a way to freestyle rap in the past.

— cady lang, Time, "Watch Cool Mom Chrissy Teigen Rap a Children's Book to Daughter Luna," 5 July 2017
The race weekend also features for the first time drone racing from the Professional Aerial League (PAL), alongside freestyle exhibitions and drone education activities.

— oregonian/oregonlive sports, OregonLive.com, "2017 Rose Cup Races take place at Portland International Raceway this weekend," 5 July 2017
The Boilermakers' Luke Welch won the 125-pound freestyle title in the university nationals.

— david woods, Indianapolis Star, "Barriers to a medal? For IU's Andy Bayer, it's getting there," 4 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'freestyle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.