free spirit

noun

plural free spirits

: a person who thinks and acts in an uninhibited way without worrying about normal social rules : nonconformist

Their daughter is a real free spirit.

Von der Becke thinks of himself now as a free spirit: a sort of drug-free, hard-working hippie.

—Tim Cahill

Here was a man of extraordinary sensitivity, political acumen, spiritual power, and sexual wildness; a free spirit if ever there was one.

—Alice Walker

free-spirited

ˈfrē-ˈspir-ə-təd 

adjective

Synonyms

• bohemian
• boho
• counterculturist
• deviant
• enfant terrible
• heretic
• iconoclast
• individualist
• lone ranger
• lone wolf
• loner
• maverick
• nonconformer
• nonconformist

Examples of free spirit in a Sentence

Their daughter is a real free spirit.

an artistically inclined free spirit who felt alienated and stifled while growing up in a small town

Recent Examples on the Web

His mother does an admirable job of trying to keep him out of trouble, even if her efforts to steer him away from the paths that kept his father out of his life strike Rico as attempts to neuter his free spirit. —Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 31 Jan. 2025

As Alyssa, an artist who falls somewhere between free spirit and flake, SZA eases into her first acting role like someone who has been doing this all along. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 15 Jan. 2025

Utsav was a free spirit who hadn’t worked a traditional job in three years. —Shobha Dasari, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2025

And a little bit of my free spirit is gone for sure. —Lexy Perez, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1931, in the meaning defined above