as in to free
to set free (as from slavery or confinement)
authorities eventually unfettered the menagerie of wild animals that had been kept illegally as pets
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Recent Examples of unfetter
As spring ends, maple trees begin to unfetter winged seeds that flutter and swirl from branches to land gently on the ground.
—
Nikk Ogasa, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2021
His long run in office, however, delivered only partial victories on his two primary ambitions: to unfetter Japan’s military after decades of postwar pacifism and to jump-start and overhaul its economy through a program known as Abenomics.
—New York Times, 8 July 2022
The Safdies are pointedly effective in capturing the way in which a chaotic city’s overall rhythm goes on unfettered even as a character experiences a horrific disruption or glitch in one small part of it.
—Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2019
By manufacturing satellite components in space, Made In Space hopes to unfetter some of those launch constraints.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 2 Aug. 2019
By manufacturing satellite components in space, the company hopes to unfetter some of those launch constraints.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 29 July 2019
Unfettered by worries about his relationship, Caldwell thrived.
—Jason Blevins, The Denver Post, 18 May 2017
Nikk Ogasa, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2021
His long run in office, however, delivered only partial victories on his two primary ambitions: to unfetter Japan’s military after decades of postwar pacifism and to jump-start and overhaul its economy through a program known as Abenomics.
—New York Times, 8 July 2022
The Safdies are pointedly effective in capturing the way in which a chaotic city’s overall rhythm goes on unfettered even as a character experiences a horrific disruption or glitch in one small part of it.
—Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 15 Dec. 2019
By manufacturing satellite components in space, Made In Space hopes to unfetter some of those launch constraints.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 2 Aug. 2019
By manufacturing satellite components in space, the company hopes to unfetter some of those launch constraints.
—Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 29 July 2019
Unfettered by worries about his relationship, Caldwell thrived.
—Jason Blevins, The Denver Post, 18 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unfetter
Verb
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But oddly enough, writing something so generic was the freeing element to all of our problems.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
21 June 2025
-
Short of the savings being placed in a much bigger coffee can, government spending cuts born of efficiency, headcount reduction, mandate reduction, or all three would have just freed up money for Congress to spend in new ways.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2025
Verb
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Their freedom came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln liberated slaves in the Confederacy by signing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.—
Ani Freedman,
Fortune,
20 June 2025
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Two-and-a-half years after Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the enslaved people of Texas learned — via the victorious Union Army — that they were liberated.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Lyons was released from Tottenham’s youth system at age 16 and fell into depression before dying by suicide 10 years later.—
Colin Millar,
New York Times,
27 June 2025
-
For every container of fireworks arriving at a U.S. port, importers must pay the tariff upfront, before customs even thinks about releasing the goods.—
Richard Howells,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2025
Verb
-
For one prospective graduate student, an admission to Harvard’s Graduate School of Education had rescued her educational dreams.—
Sara Braun,
Fortune,
21 June 2025
-
The people rescued have included families, veterans and college students.—
Michelle Marchante,
Miami Herald,
20 June 2025
Verb
-
Artificial implants naturally wear out or loosen with time and activity.—
Colleen Doherty,
Verywell Health,
27 June 2025
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The challenges were steep enough that Georgia has decided to loosen its work verification protocols from monthly to once a year.—
ProPublica,
ProPublica,
26 June 2025
Verb
-
This kept their traditions alive until their ancestors were emancipated in the 1860s.—
Ben Abrams,
NPR,
19 June 2025
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Urging Lincoln to now issue an executive order for emancipating the slaves, Sumner was firmly rebuffed.—
Zaakir Tameez
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unfetter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unfetter. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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