footloose

adjective

foot·​loose ˈfu̇t-ˌlüs How to pronounce footloose (audio)
: having no ties : free to move about

Examples of footloose in a Sentence

When she was 20, she was footloose and fancy-free, with no family or serious career to tie her down. after having been chained for so long, the suddenly footloose dog ran helter-skelter about the yard
Recent Examples on the Web Huppert plays a footloose and intense French woman at large in Korea and vaguely making ends meet as an untrained language tutor with eccentric methods. Patrick Frater, Variety, 19 Feb. 2024 This anthology is a footloose excavation of Muslim food writing foraged from some of South Asia’s best writers, with a recipe tailing each essay. Meher Mirza, Vogue, 5 Dec. 2023 These natural attributes no longer matter as firms are attracted to cities where footloose knowledge workers congregate. Ian Goldin, Fortune, 20 Sep. 2023 The result is footloose foreign capital flows out of emerging markets that are deemed riskier. Cristina Bodea, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2023 In step with policymakers in the Biden administration, the authors point to the need for fundamental changes in how governments tax corporate profits in a world of footloose balance sheets. Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, Foreign Affairs, 24 Aug. 2021 Tip the world, and the fearful and the timid, nailed securely and drearily in place, would stay put — but the footloose and bold and adventuresome would roll into L.A. and remake themselves. Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2023 While Reed is now a divorced corporate suit who’s estranged from his wife, Elena remains the footloose hippie of her university days. Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 4 May 2022 But beneath that is something unexpected and even richer: anger at herself for having failed to care in time about the squalid carelessness of a tossed-off, footloose life. Jesse Green, New York Times, 12 Aug. 2022

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

Word History

First Known Use

1650, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of footloose was in 1650

Dictionary Entries Near footloose

Cite this Entry

“Footloose.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/footloose. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

footloose

adjective
foot·​loose -ˌlüs How to pronounce footloose (audio)
: having no ties : free to roam

More from Merriam-Webster on footloose

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