How to Use laissez-faire in a Sentence

laissez-faire

noun
  • The Field Act was a striking new kind of law in a laissez-faire state.
    — Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2023
  • Photo: Jeenah Moon The laissez-faire era of the city’s e-bike and moped boom might also be winding down.
    — Jesse Coburn, Curbed, 31 Jan. 2025
  • Perhaps one of the best — and more laissez-faire — ways to enjoy the tournament is to buy a grounds pass and hop around from court to court.
    — Jesus Jiménez, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Still, if there was a past laissez-faire attitude about Lemon, those days appear to be over.
    — Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 5 Apr. 2023
  • The effect should be laissez-faire, easy-breezy—but getting to that look isn’t as simple as twirling some fabric around your neck and heading out the door.
    — Erika Veurink, Vogue, 30 Nov. 2024
  • Children are catered for in a laissez-faire way, with a playground and zip wire, tennis court floating on a lake and a beamed attic filled with games.
    — Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Dec. 2023
  • There’s a science to the seemingly laissez-faire act of sporting an oversize shirt.
    — Erika Veurink, Vogue, 31 Dec. 2023
  • The company has built an empire on low fees and a laissez-faire, all-traders-welcome culture.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2023
  • The former group relishes the research; the latter loves the serendipity of a laissez-faire approach.
    — Emilia Petrarca and Margot Dougherty, WSJ, 22 Mar. 2023
  • That might be because of its laissez-faire approach to moderation; hate speech wasn’t banned from the site until 2020.
    — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 24 Feb. 2024
  • Young Israelis and American Jews came in droves over the past 15 years, fascinated by the city’s laissez-faire vibe, buzzing nightlife and low cost of living.
    — Kirsten Grieshaber, ajc, 23 June 2023
  • Young Israelis and American Jews came in droves over the past 15 years, fascinated by the city’s laissez-faire vibe, buzzing nightlife, and low cost of living.
    — Kirsten Grieshaber, The Christian Science Monitor, 23 June 2023
  • Since the early days of her modeling career, Shayk, now 37, has maintained the same laissez-faire mindset about the opinions of others.
    — Julia Moore, Peoplemag, 21 Apr. 2023
  • Yet the tone is decidedly modern, thanks in large part to Pine’s laissez-faire, ironic energy as the lute-playing Edgin, the bard of this tale.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Duff said policymakers cannot afford to take the same laissez-faire approach with AI.
    — Alison Cross, Hartford Courant, 23 Apr. 2024
  • Cowell new laissez-faire attitude has left him with few regrets.
    — Byryan Hogg, Fortune Europe, 10 June 2024
  • Leadership styles can vary, from autocratic to laissez-faire, and each type sets a specific tone in the workplace.
    — Kate Wieczorek, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
  • Or are business leaders too laissez-faire about the new technology?
    — Byrachyl Jones, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2023
  • LeBron has taken more of a laissez-faire approach to media this season, likely due to everything with his son.
    — William Lambers, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The irony with this laissez-faire attitude is that the talent who might help elevate these stories are no longer interested in being a part of them.
    — Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 1 Mar. 2025
  • The Pacers are a laissez-faire vortex of movement and tempo, which needs to be grounded in some defensive intensity to work.
    — Jared Weiss, The Athletic, 29 Dec. 2024
  • Michaels has changed his laissez-faire attitude toward substance abuse.
    — Susan Morrison, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
  • The former is regulation-forward; the latter is laissez-faire.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 14 June 2023
  • Alterations to the algorithm and a laissez-faire approach to moderation have lent X an air of sustained mayhem.
    — Jason Parham, WIRED, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Another question is how much success the more laissez-faire members of Trump’s circle, like Elon Musk, have in shaping policy.
    — David Leonhardt, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Forget about laissez-faire virtue-signaling and appeasing the radicals at the Sierra Club.
    — Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025
  • Lest anyone feared a laissez-faire approach, Hamp quickly proved otherwise.
    — Matthew Scogin, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
  • In 2019, the late Queen Elizabeth II was photographed, rather casually, with her hands in the pockets of her white tweed dress — causing a stir amongst royalists for her laissez-faire body language.
    — Leah Dolan, CNN, 17 Feb. 2025
  • The company also had a laissez-faire attitude to moderating speech on the site, which sometimes landed it in hot water.
    — Mike Isaac, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024
  • But Trump and the Democrats largely agree that economics belongs in the national security equation and that laissez-faire capitalism is not the solution.
    — Aroop Mukharji, Foreign Affairs, 14 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'laissez-faire.' 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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