free-for-all
10
6.2
- noun
- /ˈfriːfɔːrˌɔːl/
- Informal
:
lío
- I will not have this meeting become a free-for-all.
So I think it's a free for all from Team Obama.
- So I think it's a free for all from Team Obama.
- It was just a total, absolutely bloody free for all compared to what was going on in Europe.
- I would say try to keep the lips off as long as you can, but eventually it's just a free for all.
- Oh, I forgot, because in MAGA you store your classified shit next to your gold toilet and you know it's just a free for all.
- So sex education online is a bit of a free for all because it's amazing that anyone can do it, but also anyone can do it.
- Like is it just a free for all or?
- And then on the weekends it was a complete free for all, all the beer and whiskey and pull bars that I wanted.
Examples
-
The monsters' games were typically crazy free-for-alls, and nobody was ever left out.
Fiction book (1999) -
The word from the race committee tonight is they will not allow a couple of cowboys to turn this challenge into a free-for-all.
-
And then on the weekends it was a complete free for all, all the beer and whiskey and pull bars that I wanted.
-
After that, it was a free-for-all; we were in hysterics about everything we passed.
Blog text (2) -
Official salaries are never enough to make ends meet, and the economy has become a hybrid of control, chaos, and free-for-all.
Academic text (2007) -
During the afternoon, a delegation of women from a rival political family approached, causing a major free-for-all.
Academic text (1992) -
There is a sense of a free-for-all gold rush, a fever to grab money, with those in power grabbing the most.
Academic text (1992) -
But in the partisan free-for-all now unfolding, this key factor must not be ignored.
Blog text (9) -
Right now we’re where automobile traffic was circa 1900, a chaotic free-for-all where everyone does their own thing.
Blog text (13) -
The event turned into a chaotic free-for-all as everyone rushed to grab the gifts.
Synonyms
438
3.1
A situation with no order where people are confused and cannot act normally
60
4.6
A noisy, violent fight among a group in a public place
22
8.0
A loud, wild situation of disorder and confusion
18
5.4
Many people compete quickly and chaotically for the same thing
2
9.1
A noisy public fight or argument that causes trouble
2
8.4
A very large, messy situation that is hard to fix
1
7.0
A noisy fight involving many people in one place
A situation where everyone fights or competes without any rules
A noisy, rough fight with little care for rules
A situation with things all over and people confused
A very messy place or situation
Antonyms
How Chaotic
Surface Forms
Morphology
free-for-all = free + all (semi-transparent) = for + free + all
The individual words 'free', 'for', and 'all' are recognizable, but the idiomatic sense 'a disorderly fight or event with no rules' is not fully deducible from the parts for many learners. [Postprocessing: moved 'for' from base_words to prefix]
Etymology
Free-for-all comes from the simple parts free 'not controlled' and all 'everyone', so it originally meant something 'open to everyone'. That is why a free-for-all is a situation or fight where anyone can join and there are no rules, which makes it chaotic.