free agent

SEE SYNONYMS FOR free agent ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who is self-determining and is not responsible for his or her actions to any authority.
a professional athlete who is not under contract and is free to auction off his or her services and sign a contract with the team that offers the most money.

Origin of free agent

First recorded in 1840–50

OTHER WORDS FROM free agent

free agency, free agentry, noun

Words nearby free agent

fredet-ramstedt operation, fredonia, fredric, fredrikstad, free, free agent, free air, free alongside ship, free and accepted masons, free and clear, free and easy

Words related to free agent

freelance, independent, individualist

Example sentences from the Web for free agent

  • The reason of law declares the maniac not a free-agent; and the verdict follows of course—Not guilty.

    Aids to Reflection |Samuel Taylor Coleridge

British Dictionary definitions for free agent

free agent

noun

a person whose actions are not constrained by others

Idioms and Phrases with free agent

free agent
1

A person not under compulsion or constraint, not responsible to any authority for his or her actions. For example, After he quit his job, he decided to pursue the same line of work as a free agent. Originally used to describe a person subject to the philosophic concept of free will (as opposed to determinism), this expression was first recorded in 1662. Later it was extended to mean “someone not under obligation to an authority.”

2

A professional athlete who is free to sign a contract with any team. For example, After he was released from the Yankees, he was a free agent and could shop around for the team that offered the most money. [Second half of 1900s]