unfree

adjective

un·​free ˌən-ˈfrē How to pronounce unfree (audio)
: not free : lacking freedom
unfree laborers
an unfree decision
unfreedom noun

Examples of unfree in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Matti and Amanda wrote that my prospective child would be similarly unfree. Elizabeth Barber, Harper's Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024 Both Ondimba presidencies were marred by allegations of human rights abuses, corruption and unfree elections. Justin Klawans, The Week, 4 Sep. 2023 There’s no way to remake a film this free in a way that’s unfree. Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone, 6 Aug. 2023 Majestic places like Beauvoir were sustained by the unpaid labor of unfree workers. Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 19 July 2023 As even Indy becomes the target of persecution at some point (in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), the films allude to the complex realities of scholarship in unfree societies. Petar Parvanov, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 July 2023 Promoted as a society unshackled from earthly laws, this town is in fact as unfree as possible. Matthew R. Francis, Scientific American, 26 June 2023 When the Haitian Revolution was happening, there was support for it from both the competing empire of England and competing capitalist interests who were operating in the East Indies with other forms of unfree, highly coercive, highly exploitative labor. Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2021 It’s connected also to his travelling in the company of the unfree Jim, who eventually will be betrayed, captured, and locked up alone in a cabin himself, from which he is freed in the final and not-good part of the book. The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unfree.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unfree was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near unfree

Cite this Entry

“Unfree.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfree. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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