Definition of Free State

1. Noun. A Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies.


2. Noun. Any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War.
Generic synonyms: American State
Group relationships: North, Union
Antonyms: Slave State

3. Noun. A province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997.
Exact synonyms: Orange Free State
Generic synonyms: Province, State
Group relationships: Republic Of South Africa, South Africa

Definition of Free State

1. Noun. A political entity whose political status is less than that of a fully sovereign nation-state, as with the former Congo Free State and the former Irish Free State. ¹

2. Noun. A Federal state, with allegiance to a larger entity, as currently with Germany, and earlier, the relationship between the states of the Holy Roman Empire and the Emperor, and later, the states of the German Empire under the Hohenzollerns. ¹

3. Noun. An independent or autonomous political entity whose formal status and relationship to other states is undefined. ¹

4. Noun. An approximate synonym for republic or commonwealth, as with the former Orange Free State, and especially as used for the current United Kingdom to refer to the Commonwealth period under Cromwell. ¹

5. Noun. (engineering) A condition of not being supported or constrained by outside forces. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Free State

free reed
free reign
free rein
free ride
free rider
free runner
free runners
free running
free sheet
free sheets
free software
free space
free speech
free spirit
free spirits
free state
free states
free substitution
free substitutions
free tenia
free thought
free throw
free throw lane
free throws
free thyroxine index
free time
free to air
free trade
free trade area
free trade areas

Literary usage of Free State

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Historians' History of the World: A Comprehensive Narrative of the Rise by Henry Smith Williams (1909)
"The result of this conference was a secret session of the Transvaal volks- raad and the proposition of a secret treaty with the Free State, by which each ..."

2. The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States by Horace Greeley (1866)
"The pro-Slavery army now marched down the hill, and entered the south end of the town, where Atchison made a speech to them, declaring that the Free-State ..."

3. Bulletin of the New York Public Library by New York Public Library (1899)
"ORANGE Free State. Boon (MJ) The history of the Orange Free State. London, 1885. 8°. Great Britain. Agreement with the Orange Free State, respecting the ..."

4. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and (1910)
"The international character of King Leopold's enterprise had not long been maintained, and his recognition as sovereign of the Free State confirmed the ..."

5. International Law: A Treatise by Lassa Oppenheim (1920)
"The former Congo Free State,2 which was Congo recognised as an independent State by the Berlin Conge Free Conference 3 of 1884-1885, was a permanently ..."

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