free verse

noun

Definition of free versenext
as in poetry
verse that does not rhyme and does not have a regular rhythm The author's free verse has a unique rhythmic intensity.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of free verse The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. — Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2026 Told in a first-person, free verse style, her struggle to overcome a family tragedy, an ecological catastrophe, and the Great Depression is harrowing yet hopeful. — Libby Monteith Minor, Southern Living, 28 Feb. 2026 Though most of Milosz’s poetry was written in free verse, no effort has been made to force the English versions into the complicated poetic forms the poet sometimes preferred — that would have required a different sense of obligation. — William Logan, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025 The award-winning work, told through a mix of free verse and haiku, offers a poignant and nuanced look at a young person growing up Black in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, finding herself through the art of writing. — The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2024 See All Example Sentences for free verse
Recent Examples of Synonyms for free verse
  1. poetry
  2. poem
  3. lyric
  4. blank verse
  5. rhyme
  6. song
Noun
  • Cadogan, a poetry lover, also worked with Laura Turner, creative producer at Beningbrough, to bring in a writer-in-residence.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026
  • His poetry has been published in Nine Mile, Doubly Mad, Pulsebeat, and The Lyric, and elsewhere.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of poetry
Noun
  • The poem’s anguished meditations on love’s savagery and isolation are designed to draw blood.
    — Merve Emre, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2026
  • His poems and books have been translated into Spanish, French, and Dutch.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2026
Definition of poem
Noun
  • The results are most effective when the lyrics are tight and embody the colorful feelings that Greene’s music often evokes.
    — Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The lyrics point to an understanding that change requires sacrifice.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of lyric
Noun
  • This conservative approach has been encouraged in part by the blank verse, but also by a traditional reticence of scholars to take liberties with the evidence.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2026
  • The piece has the pattern of blank verse.
    — Ray Mark Rinaldi, Denver Post, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of blank verse
Noun
  • The rhyme scheme is typically abcb, which means the second and fourth lines end in the same rhyme (b).
    — René Ostberg, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Straight women queuing for Heated Rivalry and Heartstopper have a rhyme with any human queuing for the Court of Thorns and Roses series, simply given all those werewolves.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of rhyme
Noun
  • There are some apocalypses, the song seems to suggest, where no redemptive beauty can be found.
    — Marissa Lorusso, Pitchfork, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Taylor Swift looked back on her earliest days crafting songs in Music City as she was inducted Monday into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, becoming its youngest member at 36.
    — Chris Willman, Variety, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of song

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free trade
free verse
free verses
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Cite this Entry

“Free verse.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/free%20verse. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on free verse

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about free verse

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