free
adj.adj. costing no money or not being busy. You also use it to describe someone who is not in prison or not controlled by others.
adj. costing nothing; not under the control or power of another; not occupied or busy. Often used in the sense of 'at liberty' or 'without charge'.
The museum is free on Sundays.
I have some free time this afternoon if you want to discuss the new project.
The newly established government promised to maintain a free press and ensure that every citizen had the right to express their opinions without fear of censorship.
From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English frēo (“free”), from Proto-West Germanic frī, from Proto-Germanic frijaz (“beloved, not in bondage”), from Proto-Indo-European priHós (“pleased, loved”), from preyH- (“to please, love”). Related to friend. cognates, etc Germanic cognates include Scots fre (“free”), North Frisian frai, frei, fri, Frii (“free”), Saterland Frisian fräi (“free”), West Frisian frij (“free”), Dutch vrij (“free”), German frei (“free”), Low German free (“free”), Luxembourgish fräi (“free”), Vilamovian frȧj (“free”), Yiddish פֿרײַ (fray, “free”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish fri (“free”), Faroese fríur (“free”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃 (freis, “free”). Other cognates include Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “beloved”). Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").
From Middle English freen, freoȝen, from Old English frēon, frēoġan (“to free; make free”), from Proto-West Germanic frijōn, from Proto-Germanic frijōną, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-, and is cognate with German freien, Dutch vrijen, Czech přát, Serbo-Croatian prijati, Polish sprzyjać.
When meaning 'without cost', it usually precedes the noun or follows a linking verb. When meaning 'available', it often follows the subject.
I am very free today.I am free today.While 'very free' is grammatically possible, learners often use it to mean 'I have a lot of time', which sounds unnatural; 'free' is usually sufficient.