How to Use free-for-all in a Sentence

free-for-all

noun
  • So, who's gonna foot the bill for this fiscal free-for-all?
    — Bob Haber, Forbes, 30 Dec. 2024
  • Powell joined the free-for-all and pushed both Gordon and Braun.
    — Janis Carr, Oc Register, 26 Apr. 2025
  • In New York’s earliest days, the streets were a free-for-all.
    — New York Times, 13 May 2024
  • Here’s the deal: Gentle parenting isn’t the free-for-all it’s assumed to be.
    — Alex Vance, Parents, 27 Dec. 2024
  • The class, the film shows, was an experimental free-for-all.
    — Natalia Winkelman, IndieWire, 31 Jan. 2025
  • The vote came down to something of a free-for-all, with unusual alliances in support of and opposed to the bill.
    — Annie Karni, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
  • In retrospect, the GameStop free-for-all may have represented the peak of the easy-money IP boom.
    — Simon Van Zuylen-Wood, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024
  • Every single seat had a name tag attached to it, rather than a free-for-all like normal.
    — Sam Sklar, Sun Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2023
  • The attack by Hamas had unleashed a violent free-for-all.
    — Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 13 Oct. 2023
  • Facebook groups for apartment hunters become a free-for-all.
    — Andrew Brinker, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Apr. 2023
  • This is Meat Carnival, the all-you-can-eat, free-for-all, for people who love meat and don't mind getting messy.
    — Chelsea Davis, Forbes, 2 Nov. 2024
  • The attraction’s Laser Tag Maze is inflatable and holds up to 20 players in a free-for-all or in team-match mode.
    — Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Mar. 2023
  • These dedicated vessels of fun seem truest to the free-for-all of their downtown New York scene.
    — Walker Mimms, New York Times, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Franklin argues that the free-for-all is not a rational way to birth truly creative ideas.
    — Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Instead, Shop is plagued by the same problems with a free-for-all marketplace that Amazon has faced.
    — Alex Barinka, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
  • During the free-for-all, an older guy—maybe nineteen or twenty—stepped toward me and swung his bat.
    — Mackenzie Schmidt, Peoplemag, 4 Feb. 2024
  • College sports are turning into a free-for-all, the first-year St. John's coach said, with the big winners determined in court, rather than on the court.
    — Steve Gardner, USA TODAY, 22 Feb. 2024
  • Christina Hall’s daughter Taylor has reached the age at which her mom's closet starts to look like a free-for-all clothing store.
    — Kelly Allen, House Beautiful, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The free-for-all is widely expected to drive commissions down and force many agents out of business.
    — Rachel Lerman, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024
  • Some experts argue that the free-for-all is not a rational way to birth truly creative ideas.
    — Neil Senturia, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Liberals tend to feel that the legal gray zone and free-for-all is beneficial.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 3 Mar. 2023
  • If Biden were to withdraw, columnist Chris Stirewalt wrote, the convention would become a free-for-all.
    — Ashley Oliver, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 9 July 2024
  • In what was supposed to be a free-for-all in this new age of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness deals, UConn has figured out how to dominate.
    — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2024
  • That turned the back nine at Wentworth into a free-for-all among four players chasing the flagship event on the European tour in the rain and a one-hour delay from lightning in the area.
    — Associated Press, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Sep. 2023
  • While Southwest just announced changes to its seating program (gone are the days of seat free-for-alls), one thing that hasn’t changed is its beverage program.
    — Samantha Leal, Travel + Leisure, 26 July 2024
  • The free-for-all ethos introduced on X is spreading across social media platforms, too.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2025
  • The free-for-all ethos introduced on X is spreading across social media platforms, too.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2025
  • Expectations Are High: The year could turn into a free-for-all, with many teams and drivers expected to challenge for the titles.
    — Ian Parkes, New York Times, 22 May 2025
  • But while some may have been expecting a candy-laden free-for-all, the results proved somewhat surprising.
    — Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
  • After the normal free-for-all questioning round, each justice now gets uninterrupted time to ask questions to the attorneys.
    — Ella Lee, The Hill, 21 May 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'free-for-all.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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