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

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And then third, the importance of free markets, free trade, low taxes, all that stuff. —

Lauren Goode, WIRED, 21 Nov. 2024 Inglis is part of a growing movement of conservatives who believe that climate change is a serious problem, but that free market solutions — like carbon taxes or tariffs — are the best means of addressing it. —

Saul Elbein, The Hill, 20 Nov. 2024 But they have been stopped by their Republican counterparts who believe the issue should be left to the states—and a free market—to decide, says Christopher Tang, a professor at UCLA and the faculty director for the Center For Global Management. —

Maria Gracia Santillana Linares, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024 My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. —

Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 4 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for free market