free market

noun

plural free markets

: an economic system in which prices are based on competition among private businesses and are not controlled or regulated by a government : a market (see market entry 1 sense 4d) operating by free competition

… the free market works best when businesses compete to provide the best services …

—Chris Tomlinson

A free market, technically, requires no government intervention, which is why capitalists usually land on the right of the political spectrum. In America, the government regulates businesses for reasons of social welfare and public safety …, so we don't operate in a truly free market.

—Carolyn Twersky

—often hyphenated when used before another noun

free-market competition

free-market principles

One of the basic premises of the free-market system is that actors are free to buy from or sell to a variety of other actors.

—Barry C. Lynn

Examples of free market in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The mere existence of Mother-May-I bureaucracies turns everything, from local tap water to space commercialization, into a joint business-government venture, rather than a competitive free market. —Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025

Limiting your opinion writers to the defense of personal liberty and free markets? —arkansasonline.com, 1 Mar. 2025

These problems – economic inequality and loss of opportunity – were caused by the free market’s response to the lack of government action, or insufficient or misdirected action. —Joseph P. Tomain, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025

So editorial principles about personal liberties and free markets not only have definitional complexity but always have to be examined in the light of daily circumstances. —The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1642, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for free market

• nonmarket
• premarket
• upmarket
• aftermarket
• patriarchate
• supermarket

Kids Definition

free market

noun

: an economic market operating by free competition