freelance

• free-lance, free lance

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiːlɑːns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiˌlæns/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːlɑːns
• Hyphenation: free‧lance

freelance (plural freelances)

2. Someone who sells their services to clients without a long-term employment contract.
   • 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 objector, one Millworthy, a free-lance of journalism, was not to be so easily silenced.

   • 2014, Brian Mossop, Revising and Editing for Translators, page 192:

     The person you are revising (the revisee) is a colleague at your own rank, or another freelance.

4. (historical) A medieval mercenary.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:mercenary

   • 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 98–100:

     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.

freelance (comparative more freelance, superlative most freelance)

1. Of or relating to a freelance; without a long-term employment contract.

   He was a freelance writer for several magazines.

   • 2007 October 30, Terry Cettina, “How to even the score on housework, kid duty”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     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.

freelance (third-person singular simple present freelances, present participle freelancing, simple past and past participle freelanced)

1. (intransitive) To work as a freelance.
2. (transitive) To produce or sell services as a freelance.

• freelancer

Unadapted borrowing from English freelance.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfriːlɑns/, [ˈfriːlɑ̝ns̠]
• Rhymes: -iːlɑns

freelance

1. (as modifier) freelance

   freelancetoimittaja ― freelance journalist

2. (rare) synonym of freelancer (“freelancer”)

• “freelance”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• free-lance

• IPA^(key): /fʁi.lɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

freelance (plural freelances)

1. freelance

freelance m or f by sense (plural freelances)

1. freelancer (someone who freelances)

Unadapted borrowing from English freelance.

• Rhymes: -ɐ̃si, -ilɐ̃ʃ
• Hyphenation: free‧lan‧ce

freelance (invariable)

1. freelance

   Synonym: autónomo

freelance m (plural freelances)

1. a freelance service

freelance m or f by sense (plural freelances)

1. synonym of freelancer

• “freelance”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “freelance”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2026
• “freelance”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “freelance”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “freelance”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN

freelance (invariable)

1. freelance

freelance m (plural freelances)

1. freelancer (someone who freelances)

• free lance | Definición | Diccionario de la lengua española | RAE - ASALE
• free lance | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas | RAE - ASALE
• freelance/freelancer | FundéuRAE