FREETHINKERS Synonyms: 38 Similar and Opposite Words

freethinkers

noun

plural of freethinker

as in weirdos

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

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

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 freethinkers By the early 1990s, Eugene had earned itself a reputation as a beacon of progressive-minded irreverence, drawing a pungent mix of weirdos, iconoclasts, and freethinkers. — Literary Hub, 10 July 2026 These, um, freethinkers were unintentionally encouraged by the airport’s art. — Charlie Sosnick, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Dec. 2025 My mom, like many freethinkers of her generation, butted heads against anything that reinforced the status quo, and let us children grow like wild weeds into our own individuals. — Morgan Lockhart, PEOPLE, 29 Nov. 2025 Doctors volunteered, but so did nurses, store owners, actors, academics, factory workers and freethinkers – even prisoners about to be executed. — Susan E. Lederer, The Conversation, 10 Mar. 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for freethinkers

Noun

Okay what about people’s resistance to believing these guys are stone-cold weirdos?

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026
Back to basics on The Daily Show Not to wax nostalgic, but back in my day, The Daily Show was mostly a cavalcade of weirdos consenting to be filmed while comedians played right in their face.

— Bethy Squires, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of weirdos

Noun

O’Hara worked consistently across her 50-year career in both film and television, best known for playing beloved kooks and amiable wackos, though her range was boundless.

— Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
What so many of these talking heads have in common—legitimate experts, well-meaning journalists, and kooks alike—is how costly their recommendations are.

— CBS News, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026

Definition of kooks

Noun

No documentarian has a better eye for intriguing oddballs than Errol Morris, who built his feature film career on drawing them out in conversation, from pet-cemetery owners in Gates of Heaven to small-town eccentrics in Vernon, Florida.

— Judy Berman, Time, 11 Aug. 2026
Dippold has populated the show with lovable eccentrics played by great character actors—Dale Dickey, Jeff Hiller, Tim Baltz.

— Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 18 June 2026

Definition of eccentrics

Noun

Germany’s leading indie fest has long made a specialty of outsiders and oddballs — artists who arrived without pedigree, training programs or an obvious industry slot and built the career anyway.

— Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 17 Sep. 2026
These sisters were not your average oddballs, especially as Herzog reimagines them.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of oddballs

Noun

The forty-niners are elemental to our identity as a nation of brave, rugged individualists.

— Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Based on actual events, Eden features a starry cast playing a disparate group of rugged individualists who all find themselves in the Galapagos in the early 20th century, each abandoning society in the hopes of creating a utopia.

— Will Leitch, Vulture, 22 Aug. 2025

Definition of individualists

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 iconoclasts

Noun

Pairing fruits with protein or healthy fats, like nuts or cheese, can help slow digestion and reduce blood sugar spikes.

— Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 28 Sep. 2026
Your doctor may also recommend eating more iron-rich foods, such as red meat, poultry and fish, as well as legumes, leafy greens, seeds and nuts.

— Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of nuts

Browse Nearby Words

freethinker

freethinkers

freethinking

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Freethinkers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/freethinkers. Accessed 6 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of freethinkers

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

regimen

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes