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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
  • Prose poetry, the lyric essay and other hybrid forms of literature play at the intersection of genre, which usually defines these separate categories of writing.
    — Amy Cannon, The Conversation, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Several of my favorite poetry collections capture the nuanced process of breaking up, with its extreme states of longing, anger, and sorrow—while also expanding the capacity for joy, pleasure, and compassion.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of poetry
Noun
  • Each poem feels like the blinding-bright perception of one sublime minute.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Instead of collectivity, there is a certain kind of animal community, or one that the poems’ speakers—children, old men, drunks, prostitutes—often stand apart from.
    — Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of poem
Noun
  • The show won eight Tony Awards, including two for Sheik, for the score — shared with the musical’s book and lyrics writer, Steven Sater — and for orchestrations.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026
  • With its fragile acoustic melodies, desolate lyrics, and spare, subtle studio accompaniment, Ride Lonesome is like Nick Drake’s mumble-folk masterpiece Bryter Layter as the work of a lovelorn Laurel Canyon soft-rock poet.
    — Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 18 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
  • In the ‘90s-style video of the song, Swift participates in a dance competition and receives three zeroes from the judges.
    — Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2026
  • American and German pop songs have, over the past fifty years, become more self-focused.
    — J. B. MacKinnon, Harpers Magazine, 22 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 26 Sep. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on free verse

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about free verse

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