unfettered
adjective
Joshua MillerJonathan KeatesArthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.Walter Shapiro
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A fetter is a chain or shackle for the feet (such as the kind sometimes used on a prisoner), or, more broadly, anything that confines or restrains. Fetter and unfetter both function as verbs in English with contrasting literal meanings having to do with the putting on of and freeing from fetters; they likewise have contrasting figurative extensions having to do with the depriving and granting of freedom. The adjective unfettered resides mostly in the figurative, with the word typically describing someone or something unrestrained in progress or spirit. This is how Irish author James Joyce used the word in his 1916 autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man when the character of Cranly recalls to his best friend Stephen what he (Stephen) said he wishes to do in life: "To discover the mode of life or of art whereby your spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom."
Examples of unfettered in a Sentence
Lauren Coulman, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025
In the meantime, many states and policymakers are exploring an expansive middle ground between unfettered access and blanket bans.
—Katharine Neill Harris, The Conversation, 25 Feb. 2025
Compounders have 60 to 90 days to stop sales
For Hims and other compounders, this development starts the clock on having unfettered market access to Novo's drugs, Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny said in a note.
—Bhanvi Satija, Puyaan Singh, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2025
The district attorney repeatedly assailed the Police Department over the level of security in its evidence room, saying that officers had unfettered access through a gap in the wall and used a broomstick to jimmy a door.
—Neil Vigdor, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unfettered
Cite this Entry
“Unfettered.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unfettered. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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