freelancer

noun

free·​lanc·​er ˈfrē-ˌlan(t)-sər 

plural freelancers

1

: a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer : freelance sense 1

hired a freelancer to write the article

… there were hundreds of photographers on the scene, some on assignment, some freelancers, most of them amateurs.

—Garrison Keillor

But while Renzo is the ultimate company man, a lifetime employee who reports to the same office every morning, Riccardo is the prototypical freelancer, a peripatetic problem-solver with five-dozen clients.

—Bruce Schoenfeld

2

: a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization : freelance sense 2b

[Anthony] Grafton contrasts public intellectuals outside and inside the universities, and he takes note of today's nostalgia for the freethinkers who lived and wrote independently of deans and classrooms. But it is good to be reminded that in that golden era of freelancers such as Wilson, H. L. Mencken, and Mary McCarthy, voices like theirs were also raised in universities.

—G. W. Bowersock

Examples of freelancer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Enterprises increasingly work with third-party vendors such as contractors, freelancers, suppliers and marketing agencies to meet workload demands, automate tasks and hire efficiently. —Arti Raman, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024

Employers are looking to freelancers for a variety of reasons, and not just for cost cutting, though that is also a major consideration. —Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024

Those opinion columnists are expected to be freelancers. —James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2024

Another potential change is the expiration of the qualified business income deduction, which allowed small business owners, freelancers and others who own their own business to deduct 20% of their income from their taxes. —Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 13 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1