freebase

freebase noun: the purified, dry form of an amine, especially an alkaloid natural product, that is normally used in solution.

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Noun

freebase (countable and uncountable, plural freebases)

The purified, dry form of an amine, especially an alkaloid natural product, that is normally used in solution.
- The freebase is heated in a retort, foil, or other container and the vapor is inhaled as the freebase vaporizes.1987, Richard Seymour, David Elvin Smith, The Physician's Guide to Psychoactive Drugs, page 75
- On June 9, 1980, national attention was brought to cocaine freebasing when comedian Richard Pryor suffered third degree burns allegedly while using a butane torch to heat cocaine freebase he had prepared with ether.2002, Edith Fairman Cooper, The Emergence of Crack Cocaine Abuse, page 18
(specifically) The purified, dry form of certain illegal drugs, especially cocaine.
- That day, I gave a class on making and using freebase. This was one thing that was to be done perfectly, or you could end up with glass and freebase all over you.2011, Manuel Suarez, To Be Or Not to Be a Real Cop, page 72

freebase (third-person singular simple present freebases, present participle freebasing, simple past and past participle freebased)

To purify a drug by crystallization.
To use a purified drug, especially cocaine, by heating it and inhaling the fumes produced.
- Richard, one of my friends in L.A., claimed to have invented freebasing— smoking cocaine in its base form—though it's likely that what he meant was that he introduced a whole bunch of people to the process.2009, Mackenzie Phillips, High On Arrival, page 82
- With his nostrils ravaged, Crosby turned to drinking Cocaine mixed in glasses of wine, then took to smoking it by the novel technique of freebasing, where the drug is distilled down to its purest form through a process of filtration using ammonia and ether.2010, George Case, Out of Our Heads: Rock 'n' Roll Before the Drugs Wore Off, page 169

Noun
plural	freebases
alternative form	free base
Verb
third-person singular present	freebases
present participle	freebasing
past participle	freebased
past	freebased

From free + base.

What does freebase mean?: Freebase means the purified, dry form of an amine, especially an alkaloid natural product, that is normally used in solution.
What part of speech is freebase?: Freebase can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of freebase?: The plural of freebase is freebases.

Adapted from Wiktionary: freebase (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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