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
Scott Feinberg, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2025
Sadly, college basketball is in unfettered disarray at this juncture.
—Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2025
Musk's seemingly unfettered access to government agencies and DOGE's haphazard cuts have spurred worldwide protests and vandalism at Tesla dealers.
—Emily Forlini, PC Magazine, 3 Apr. 2025
This unfettered flow, which results from inadequate treatment in Mexico, ends up in California via ocean plumes and the Tijuana River Watershed.
—Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 20 Mar. 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 22 Apr. 2025.
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