How to Use free rein in a Sentence

free rein

noun
  • Giving teens privacy is not the same as giving them free rein, says Dr. Lamson.
    Denise Witmer, Parents, 29 July 2024
  • Never before have interest groups been given such free rein to operate so clearly as a de facto arm of the campaign.
    Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 18 Aug. 2024
  • This wastes seed and puts it on the ground where the rodents of the area have free rein.
    Jeff Lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Oct. 2020
  • Give your kid free rein of the kitchen to make their own snack or lunch.
    Amy Schwabe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 May 2021
  • And the Trump era has given all but free rein to the right’s adoption of the Galilean stance.
    Ari Schulman, The New Republic, 15 June 2020
  • Then, customers have free rein to pick what to put in their bowls.
    Jason Fontelieu, Baltimore Sun, 16 Aug. 2023
  • As the stylebook reminds us, seize the reins, give free rein to, put a rein on.
    WSJ, 12 Jan. 2023
  • The two may not have been scared, but that didn't mean they were allowed free rein on the set.
    Alexia Fernández, Peoplemag, 25 Oct. 2022
  • This gives your team free rein inside the process while meeting the client’s needs.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2021
  • And once inside, the riders have free rein in the speaker of the House’s offices.
    New York Times, 10 Feb. 2021
  • But never again will someone have free rein to do it in the Times’ own pages.
    Will Oremus, Slate Magazine, 31 May 2017
  • Unlike the cats of Istanbul, the dogs didn’t always have free rein of the city.
    Peter Keough, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Feb. 2021
  • The Russian air force doesn't have free rein over the entire country.
    CBS News, 8 May 2022
  • Guests get free rein of the open-air yoga platform when there isn't a class in session.
    Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 19 July 2023
  • In the end, Diller didn’t have total free rein, having to work with the trust and public agencies.
    New York Times, 20 May 2021
  • The entire episode was his playground–Michelle gave him free rein to spearhead it.
    Robyn Mowatt, Essence, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Want to imagine life if the public-health oligarchy had free rein?
    Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2021
  • That gives free rein to the drug dealers, the human traffickers.
    Fox News Staff, Fox News, 1 July 2021
  • Any more open windows and the flies swarming outside would have free rein.
    Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2022
  • Pastoralists, who once had free rein of Kenya’s lands, must deal with the same challenges.
    Ed Yong, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2020
  • Governments don’t need to keep giving them free rein to chase it.
    Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 14 Apr. 2023
  • When their girls are showering in the evening, Pappas and her husband head to the hotel bar to give them free rein in the room.
    Washington Post, 27 Jan. 2022
  • This gave Ryan Coogler free rein to create a country in the subjunctive mode: what if…?
    The New York Review of Books, 2 Mar. 2019
  • Since opening its doors in 2000, the studio had given its staff free rein to draw on the walls in one of the building’s stairwells.
    Tracy Brown, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
  • For three years he’s been given free rein to create shots for himself.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 30 Oct. 2022
  • There they were given free rein to forage for food for 50 minutes.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 1 Jan. 2023
  • The Vatican prosecutor in charge of the probe says the pontiff has given him free rein to try to find the truth.
    Frances D'emilio, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Apr. 2023
  • But Ritchie, the episode’s director, gave him free rein, take after take, Ings added, to see where the scene could take him.
    Imogen West-Knights, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2024
  • Researchers wanted to know what would happen if the sharks didn’t return during the summer and the dugongs had free rein to eat up the grass.
    Howard Cohen, orlandosentinel.com, 27 Feb. 2021
  • But mostly, Feldstein had free rein to make the character her own.
    Anna Silman, The Cut, 19 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'free rein.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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