as in poetry
verse that does not rhyme and does not have a regular rhythm
The author's free verse has a unique rhythmic intensity.
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Recent Examples of free verse
Rhyming poems, like Reed’s, have fallen out of style this century in favor of free verse.
—
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2024
Like family feuds, squabbles among poets are too tedious to recount, but Wiman remembers being accused of commissioning too much prose, of privileging formalism over free verse, and of publishing vicious reviews and vacuous poetry.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
The book, first published in 1927, is organized according to the calendar, with a passage of free verse that evokes the qualities and pleasures of each month, a small monochrome drawing nearby, and, on the facing page, a full-color illustration of the sort to draw fascinated attention.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 16 Nov. 2023
His sentences come out as free verse, a sort of Rust Belt beat poetry.
—Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for free verse
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2024
Like family feuds, squabbles among poets are too tedious to recount, but Wiman remembers being accused of commissioning too much prose, of privileging formalism over free verse, and of publishing vicious reviews and vacuous poetry.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2023
The book, first published in 1927, is organized according to the calendar, with a passage of free verse that evokes the qualities and pleasures of each month, a small monochrome drawing nearby, and, on the facing page, a full-color illustration of the sort to draw fascinated attention.
—Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 16 Nov. 2023
His sentences come out as free verse, a sort of Rust Belt beat poetry.
—Popular Mechanics, 14 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for free verse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for free verse
Noun
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For decades, hip-hop artists have turned pain into poetry, struggle into style, and now, lyrics into liquidity.—
Kori Hale,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
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Sang-wol has been using the money garnered from Ro-sa’s poetry book sales to fund a college scholarship.—
Kayti Burt,
Time,
30 June 2025
Noun
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These poems engage directly with memory, as well as both language and the act of making.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
30 June 2025
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The recording used in the film is nearly as old as the poem itself, voiced in 1915 by actor Taylor Holmes.—
Jem Aswad,
Variety,
20 June 2025
Noun
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But there’s barely a trace of any geography in Oasis’ lyrics.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
29 June 2025
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References to New York City venues and streets grace songs whose synths tilt toward trance music while lyrics speak to clawing toward a hard-won joie de vivre.—
Craig Jenkins,
Vulture,
27 June 2025
Noun
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But Kantor wrote it in blank verse — little help for the script.—
Peter Bart,
Deadline,
24 Apr. 2025
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Onto the page spilled more than ten thousand lines of the richest and most resourceful blank verse in the English language, arranged into ten books in 1667, then rearranged into twelve in 1674.—
Merve Emre,
The New Yorker,
16 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Our rhymes died with children in bread lines Our voices as empty as their mothers’ arms.—
Fatemeh Shams
June 30,
Literary Hub,
30 June 2025
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Lurching rhymes and almost-rhymes shoulder their way into long, irregular lines.—
A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
13 June 2025
Noun
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The only song in the whole musical that regularly gets done for karaoke.—
Elainie Barraza,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 June 2025
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The 1943 Argentine Revolution is happening, which Ché helpfully explains in song.—
Marley Marius,
Vogue,
29 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Free verse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/free%20verse. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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