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

Many businesses succeed by working with freelancers or using tools that automate tasks, like scheduling social media posts or managing customer service requests. —Adam Fineberg, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press. —Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2025

Being Wealthy In Latvia—Getting A Golden Visa Or A Digital Nomad Visa Introduced in 2022, Latvia offers a digital nomad visa for freelancers working for an overseas company, for up to two years, earning a minimum monthly income of $3,092 (€2,857). —Alex Ledsom, Forbes.com, 30 Mar. 2025

No random freelancers who can’t tell the difference between APA and MLA. —Rowan Briggs, The Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for freelancer

• enhancer
• merganser
• romancer
• anser
• answer
• cancer
• dancer
• lancer
• anticancer
• necromancer