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free verse

noun

Definition of free versenext
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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of free verse The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. — Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026 Told in a first-person, free verse style, her struggle to overcome a family tragedy, an ecological catastrophe, and the Great Depression is harrowing yet hopeful. — Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 28 Feb. 2026 Though most of Milosz’s poetry was written in free verse, no effort has been made to force the English versions into the complicated poetic forms the poet sometimes preferred — that would have required a different sense of obligation. — William Logan, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025 The award-winning work, told through a mix of free verse and haiku, offers a poignant and nuanced look at a young person growing up Black in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, finding herself through the art of writing. — The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2024 See All Example Sentences for free verse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for free verse
  1. poetry
  2. poem
  3. lyric
  4. blank verse
  5. rhyme
  6. song
Noun
  • Most of the books were published between the nineteen-seventies and the twenty-tens, and the genres spanned history, biography, fiction, poetry, literary criticism, law, and the social sciences.
    — Francesca Mancino, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2026
  • This reputation is tied to the biting wit and unruly imagination found across his prose, poetry and political writings.
    — Dónal Gill, The Dial, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of poetry
Noun
  • The poems push against the binaries of leaving and being left and embrace ongoing love in the wake of loss.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Taken together, these masterworks mirror Prieto’s own process, which often uses chance as a springboard for composition and which harnesses ephemera — memories, scents, poems, or even architectural fragments — to create new work.
    — Jill Singer, Curbed, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of poem
Noun
  • The more the lyrics swish around, the more their implications start to weigh.
    — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Look up the sexy lyrics, and turn the volume up on the love song, Cancer.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of lyric
Noun
  • The piece has the pattern of blank verse.
    — Ray Mark Rinaldi, Denver Post, 27 Oct. 2025
  • But Kantor wrote it in blank verse — little help for the script.
    — Peter Bart, Deadline, 24 Apr. 2025
Definition of blank verse
Noun
  • Closets Without a Purpose Garcia’s definition of a closet without purpose is a space where belongings have piled up without rhyme, reason, or a clear system to help organize whatever is inside.
    — Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Galtié also pointed out that the garden sits steps from the Vanderbilt Gate, a fitting historical rhyme given the family’s ties to Boucheron.
    — Thomas Waller, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of rhyme
Noun
  • The full list of pairs and their premiere dance styles and songs can be found here.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Maresca’s team-mates from his early playing days at West Bromwich Albion in England fondly recall his unselfconscious warbling of Italian pop songs in the locker-room showers.
    — Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of song

Browse Nearby Words

free trade
free verse
free verses
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Cite this Entry

“Free verse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/free%20verse. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on free verse

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about free verse

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