free-range en · ADJ
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Of, pertaining to, or produced by animals that are allowed to roam freely, rather than being confined indoors.
We've imbued "natural food" with such virtuous connotations that meat supposedly raised according to the law of nature is, ipso facto, thought to be an ethically worthwhile choice. It's on this basis, I believe, that many morally concerned meat eaters justify purchasing meat from small, free-range animal farms.
2011 April 8, James McWilliams, “An Inconvenient Truth: Free-Range Meat Isn't 'Natural'”, in The Atlantic:
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(broadly, not-comparable, of children) Allowed to move about outdoors without supervision.
free-range children
While I have not found corroboration for King's claim, Ivy and Bean series author Annie Barrows has acknowledged that there is a delicate balancing act involved in representing free-range children today
2015, Jennifer Miskec, Annette Wannamaker, The Early Reader in Children’s Literature and Culture, →ISBN:
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(not-comparable) Relating to a hands-off parenting style in which children are allowed to go out and explore alone.
free-range parents
I think they would laugh if someone asked them whether I was a loose, free-range parent — or my husband, Jesse, for that matter. No, we’re pretty organized and pretty intense.
2025 October 16, Ross Douthat, quoting Amy Coney Barrett, “Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:To correct helicopter parenting, critics have proposed slow parenting, simplicity parenting, and free-range parenting.
2019, Gayle Kimball, How Global Youth Values Will Change Our Future, page 95:
Relateds
Translations (18)
vi thả vườn (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · yi פֿרײַ פּיקנדיק (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · yi פֿרײַ פּאַשענדיק (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · cy maes (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · cmn 散養 /散养 (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · cmn 走地 (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · hu szabadtartású (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · vi đi bộ (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · de Freiland- (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · pl z wolnego wybiegu (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · fi vapaa (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · pl z wolnego chowu (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · fr en liberté (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · nb frittgående (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · cmn 放養 /放养 (Relating to a hands-off parenting style) · da fritgående (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · sv frigående (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely) · it ruspante (pertaining to animals that are allowed to roam freely)