FREETHINKER Synonyms: 38 Similar and Opposite Words

freethinker

noun

Definition of freethinker

as in kook

a person who forms his or her own opinions about important subjects (such as religion and politics) instead of accepting what other people say

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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 freethinker This is the language of a company man, not a freethinker. — Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2025 Known as an intellectual society, the freethinkers advocated for equal rights, the abolition of slavery, and rejected secession. — Amanda Ogle, Travel + Leisure, 26 Apr. 2025 Rasoulof has become very good at identifying fellow freethinkers. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024 By this time, however, even in cases where freethinkers were convicted of blasphemy, judges appeared to offer leniency. — Kristina M. Lee, The Conversation, 18 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for freethinker

Recent Examples of Synonyms for freethinker

Noun

Halaena can tell that something’s up with mummy, but that kook’s never been too concerned with matters of court.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 22 June 2026
After Kent’s resignation, Republican hawks denounced him as a kook and a traitor to the cause, without touching on the delicate question of why Trump appointed such a disreputable figure in the first place.

— Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026

Definition of kook

Noun

Musk, as the documentary makes clear, is a genuine if flawed technocratic visionary, a messianic opportunist, and something of a crackpot.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 Sep. 2026
Get the angst out of the games, and the crackpots will move on to some other fashionable cause.

— Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 26 July 2026

Definition of crackpot

Noun

In the dot-com and digital revolutions that followed, many of the people who sold the hardware, coded the software, and built the platforms were seen as iconoclasts themselves.

— Jake Lundberg, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2026
John Baldessari was one of the great iconoclasts of 20th century art.

— Douglas Markowitz, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of iconoclast

Noun

The public reckonings with these figures’ legacies—the troubled former child star gone too soon, the beloved icon, the cult favorite, the complicated eccentric—have come in a cascade.

— Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026
Make sure to practice a full range of motion with these and emphasize the eccentric (the way down) part of the movement for maximal time under tension and muscle-building stimulus.

— Jakob Roze, HEALTH, 19 Aug. 2026

Definition of eccentric

Noun

But what was served up were stale, pale sketches that seemed to have been exhumed from some old codger’s book of gags from 19 bloody 50!

— Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 21 Mar. 2026
My job was to conceptualize and oversee a luncheon for fifty of these luminaries—with the help of a woozy codger standing in front of me.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Oct. 2025

Definition of codger

Noun

Across a sample of 102 nations, Nordic ones (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland) come out as the most individualist.

— Mark Carey, New York Times, 9 Aug. 2026
This franchise didn't draft John Matuszak, but Davis found the boundary-pushing, difficult-to-coach individualist a perfect fit for the Raiders.

— Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of individualist

Noun

Launching a linear channel may feel anachronistic and comes at a time when the BBC is set to close at least one but under maverick content chief Ben Frow, 5 has leaned in to linear.

— Max Goldbart, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2026
People like Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who's a Florida Republican and kind of a maverick on some issues, were tweeting very soon after this warning came out saying that Congress needed to do something.

— Dana Taylor, USA Today, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of maverick

Browse Nearby Words

free-swinging

freethinker

freethinkers

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“Freethinker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/freethinker. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of freethinker

noun

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