freelance
Syllables: free·lance/ˈfɹiːlɑːns/US/ˈfɹiˌlæns/
freelance noun: someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract.
Noun
freelance (plural freelances)
- Someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract.
- The objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be so easily silenced.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Where Our Commissioners Have a Remarkable Experience”, in The Land of Mist, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published 1926, →OCLC, page 78
- The person you are revising (the revisee) is a colleague at your own rank, or another freelance.2014, Brian Mossop, Revising and Editing for Translators, page 192
- A medieval mercenary.
- I—I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances, and he refused them—I will lead them to Hull, seize on shipping, and embark for Flanders; […] Trust me, Estoteville alone has strength enough to drive all thy Free Lances into the Humber.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter IV, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages...
- Synonyms:
- adventurer, bravo, condottiere, filibuster, freebooter, free companion, hired gun, hireling, hit man, merc
Adjective
freelance (comparative more freelance, superlative most freelance)
- Of or relating to a freelance; without a long-term employment contract.
- He was a freelance writer for several magazines.
- Both work -- Jenny as a freelance writer from home, Marc full-time-plus as a civil engineer with a long commute. Jenny also takes care of their four sons, ages 20 months to 9 years, and homeschools the two oldest.2007 October 30, Terry Cettina, “How to even the score on housework, kid duty”, in CNN
Verb
freelance (third-person singular simple present freelances, present participle freelancing, simple past and past participle freelanced)
freelance meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
freelance in Hindi
- फ्रीलांस
freelance in Tamil
- ஃப்ரீலான்ஸ், ஃப்ரீலான்ஸ் செய்ய
freelance in Marathi
- फ्रीलान्स
freelance in Urdu
- فری لانس, فری لانس کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- freelance in Bengali
- ফ্রিল্যান্স
- freelance in Telugu
- ఫ్రీలాన్స్, ఫ్రీలాన్స్ చేయడానికి
- freelance in Malayalam
- ഫ്രീലാൻസ്, ഫ്രീലാൻസിലേക്ക്, ഫ്രീലാൻസ് ചെയ്യാൻ
- freelance in Punjabi
- ਫ੍ਰੀਲਾਂਸ, ਫ੍ਰੀਲਾਂਸ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- freelance in Gujarati
- ફ્રીલાન્સ, ફ્રીલાન્સ કરવા માટે
- freelance in Odia
- ଫ୍ରିଲାନ୍ସ
- freelance in Nepali
- फ्रीलान्स
- freelance in Indonesian
- pekerja bebas, pekerja lepas, tenaga lepas, prajurit upahan
- freelance in Persian
- کارمزدی kârmozdi
- freelance in Thai
- อิสระ ìt-sà-rà
Examples of freelance in a sentence
- The freelance investigative reporter made a career of digging up dirt on celebrities for tabloids.
- I took on freelance work, whatever I could get, to cover my expenses and stay afloat.
- What I actually am is a fill-in magazine article writer, but freelance always sounds so much nicer.
Synonyms of freelance
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of freelance
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | freelances |
| alternative form | free-lance |
| alternative form | free lance |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more freelance |
| superlative | most freelance |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | freelances |
| present participle | freelancing |
| past participle | freelanced |
| past | freelanced |
Origin of freelance
From free + lance. Coined by Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe (1819; see quotation) to describe a medieval mercenary warrior or "free-lance" (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord's services). It changed to a figurative noun around the 1860s and was recognized as a verb in 1903 by authorities such as the Oxford English Dictionary. In modern times the term has morphed into an adjective, a verb, and an adverb, as well as the derivative noun freelancer.
Words formed from freelance
Questions about freelance
- What does freelance mean?
- Freelance means someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract.
- What is freelance in Hindi?
- Freelance in Hindi is फ्रीलांस. See Freelance meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is freelance?
- Freelance can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce freelance?
- Freelance is pronounced /ˈfɹiːlɑːns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of freelance?
- The plural of freelance is freelances.
Words near freelance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: freelance (page history and authors); freelance (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); freelance (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-freelance.wav.
Cite this entry: “freelance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/freelance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.