Word.ws English Dictionary

freedom of the city

freedom of the city noun: the rights and privileges enjoyed by the freemen of medieval cities (their "citizens"), but not by outsiders, bondsmen, or others.

Noun (1)

freedom of the city (uncountable)

  1. (historical) The rights and privileges enjoyed by the freemen of medieval cities (their "citizens"), but not by outsiders, bondsmen, or others.
    • Retail sales in London were restricted to those with the freedom of the city until the 1850s.
  2. An honor bestowed by certain cities, towns, and (UK) local councils, including those of rural counties.
    • No, your freedom of the city doesn't allow you to ignore traffic fines or drive sheep through rush-hour traffic.
    • So what use is being given the freedom of the city?... The 1973 Local Government Act in Scotland allows for persons of distinction to be made "honorary freemen" in a council area. It helpfully adds that the title does not confer any rights or privileges and specifically rules out "grazing rights"....2012 September 5, Steven Brocklehurst, “Who, What, Why: Does Freedom of the City Allow You to Graze Sheep?”, in BBC

Noun (2) capitalized: Freedom of the City

Freedom of the City (uncountable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of freedom of the city as a modern honor bestowed by a city or British council.

Synonyms of freedom of the city

Forms of freedom of the city

alternative formFreedom of the City

Questions about freedom of the city

What does freedom of the city mean?
Freedom of the city means the rights and privileges enjoyed by the freemen of medieval cities (their "citizens"), but not by outsiders, bondsmen, or others.
What part of speech is freedom of the city?
Freedom of the city is a noun.

Words near freedom of the city in the dictionary

  1. freedom of navigation
  2. freedom of opinion
  3. freedom of panorama
  4. freedom of religion
  5. freedom of speech
  6. freedom of the city
  7. freedom of the press
  8. freedom of the seas
  9. freedom of thought
  10. freedom of trade
  11. freedom ride

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: freedom of the city (page history and authors); Freedom of the City (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.

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Cite this entry: “freedom of the city.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/freedom_of_the_city. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.