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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
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
The boys, including brilliant freethinker Melchior (Marshall) and his deaf friend Moritz (Joseph Saraceni), suffer through rote Latin learning with little room for creative thought.
—Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 2 Mar. 2024
As a freethinker who had run afoul of both Judaism and Christianity, Spinoza knew that bigotry and fanaticism weren’t just imposed on the people; they were also imposed by the people.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
But get this: the freethinkers who dreamed up this potential flood tide work not out of Honda's Japanese R&D center and studio but its American think tank and design enclave in Southern California.
—Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 15 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for freethinker
Kristina M. Lee, The Conversation, 18 Oct. 2024
The boys, including brilliant freethinker Melchior (Marshall) and his deaf friend Moritz (Joseph Saraceni), suffer through rote Latin learning with little room for creative thought.
—Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 2 Mar. 2024
As a freethinker who had run afoul of both Judaism and Christianity, Spinoza knew that bigotry and fanaticism weren’t just imposed on the people; they were also imposed by the people.
—Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
But get this: the freethinkers who dreamed up this potential flood tide work not out of Honda's Japanese R&D center and studio but its American think tank and design enclave in Southern California.
—Larry Griffin, Car and Driver, 15 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for freethinker
Recent Examples of Synonyms for freethinker
Noun
-
Listen to your doctor, not kooks like Bobby Kennedy and Dave Weldon.—
New York Daily News,
Twin Cities,
21 Mar. 2025
-
Listen to your doctor, not kooks like Bobby Kennedy and Dave Weldon.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The Philly drill weirdo pushes the hushed, faded-out flows Ot7Quanny and NR Boor have tinkered with to the brink, rapping like a vengeful mummy back from the afterlife.—
Alphonse Pierre,
Pitchfork,
9 May 2025
-
To craft a weirdo strong enough to anchor the otherwise feather-light film, Hess and Heder treated the alchemy of acting like a true science, making each choice with precision.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
In his last, most pathetic years, Mark Twain threw himself behind the crackpot theory that the true author of Shakespeare’s plays may have been Francis Bacon.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
9 May 2025
-
That’s what Elliot (Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Ortega) confront while on a journey to a retreat hosted by Elliot’s greedy crackpot boss (Grant).—
Randy Myers,
The Mercury News,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Chicago will be the only U.S. city to see the 92-year-old iconoclast Yoko Ono's new show.—
Carrie Shepherd,
Axios,
1 Apr. 2025
-
Season eight’s unapologetic iconoclast, Acid Betty, returns to the competition to kick ass and take names.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
But the settlers’ belief in the value of public goods and embrace of independent thinkers remain woven into the character of the city, which continues to attract artists, eccentrics and writers.—
Isabelle Taft,
New York Times,
4 May 2025
-
Robert Redford delivers folksy wisdom as a local eccentric who once had his own dragon encounter, and even Karl Urban’s greedy logger is more of a nuisance than an outright villain.—
Josh Bell,
Vulture,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
For older codgers like me who prefer golf clubs to nightclubs, a serene and charming alternative is the city of La Quinta, best known for its incomparable golf courses at PGA West and the historic La Quinta Resort & Club, another redolent whiff of Hollywood’s glorious days gone by.—
David Weiss,
Forbes.com,
8 Apr. 2025
-
Popular culture’s usual parade of toothless codgers and crones increasingly seemed obsolete.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
The New Yorker,
25 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Immigration has surged, and the United States has entered an individualist, conservative epoch.—
Robert Petkoff Krish Seenivasan Quinton Kamara,
New York Times,
24 Feb. 2025
-
No other nation has more outstanding individualists.—
Philipp Lahm,
The Athletic,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
His legendary predecessor Sachin Tendulkar, an almost god-like figure in India, and Australian maverick Shane Warne, who lived a life of glitz and glamor, were similarly box office and, quite frankly, better Test cricketers.—
Tristan Lavalette,
Forbes.com,
12 May 2025
-
Around 2016, a poem about the Black polar explorer Matthew Henson by her friend Robin Coste Lewis—another maverick of the archives—helped inspire a series of paintings about the Arctic, which flood its frozen landscapes with electric blues.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
5 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Freethinker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/freethinker. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share