freestyle

Pluralfreestyles (some meanings)

Formsfreestyles, freestyling, freestyled

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The swimming stroke also commonly called the front crawl or the Australian crawl.

   He switched from breaststroke to freestyle for the last few laps of his morning swim.

   Her freestyle stroke barely disturbed the surface of the pool.

   Similarcrawl

   Note

   Here the word names a technique rather than a race, and context keeps the two apart. Someone who wins the freestyle has won an event; someone who swims freestyle is using a particular stroke. In that second use it behaves like breaststroke or backstroke, as the object of swim or switch to. Front crawl and Australian crawl are its everyday names outside the pool's program.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A competitive swimming event in which contestants may use any stroke they choose.

   He entered the freestyle and chose to swim the front crawl.

   The freestyle event closed the swimming program.

   Note

   The name describes a rule, not a technique: free plus style, a race in which the choice of stroke is left to the swimmer. Because the front crawl is the stroke swimmers nearly always pick, the race lent its name to the stroke itself. Used countably, it names a single race (she won the freestyle). Used uncountably, it names the discipline as a whole.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A form of rapping in which the emcee invents the lyrics spontaneously as they perform.

   A skilled emcee can sustain a freestyle for several minutes without repeating a rhyme.

   The judges scored each freestyle round on originality and timing.

   Note

   Hip hop's improvised verse is composed in the moment rather than written in advance, often in answer to a beat, a crowd or a rival. The performer is usually called a freestyle artist. Michael W. Waters, in Freestyle (2014), notes how many open with "Check one, check two!" to lock onto the rhythm. As a noun it counts, as in a freestyle or freestyle rounds.

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To improvise in one's own style; to make things up on the spot.

   The comedian likes to freestyle whenever the crowd shouts out topics.

   She freestyled through the whole interview, never once losing her cool.

   Similarimprovise, ad-lib

   Note

   The verb grew up in rap, where it means making up lines on the spot, and it now covers any ad-libbing. It takes no direct object. The listener is introduced with to, as in Jensen Karp's "I freestyled to a less talented rival" (2016). The forms are regular: freestyled and freestyling.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountablebefore a noun

   Anything carried out in an improvised or unrestricted manner.

   The presentation turned into a freestyle once the slides stopped working.

   His freestyle cooking rarely follows a recipe twice.

   Similarimprovisation

   Note

   Mostly a word that sits in front of another noun, as in freestyle cooking or a freestyle approach. Sarah Marx Feldner's A Cook's Journey to Japan (2012) sets a freestyle cooking philosophy against cookbooks full of detailed measurements. That contrast captures the sense well: what is missing is the rulebook, not the skill. It can also stand alone for an improvised performance.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To improvise something in a completely unrestricted way.

   He tends to freestyle whenever a project arrives without a clear brief.

   The crew freestyled until a workable plan finally emerged.

   Similarimprovise

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To improvise one's dance moves; to dance freely without set choreography.

   She loves to freestyle when no one else is around.

   The dancers freestyled for the final number instead of following the routine.

   Similarimprovise

8. 8
   noununcountable

   A style of wrestling in which any hold that won't cause injury is allowed.

   She took up freestyle after years of judo.

   The freestyle match ended with a quick leg takedown.

   Note

   Wrestling's version of the open rule: any hold is allowed unless it is likely to injure. The practical line between it and Greco-Roman wrestling runs through the legs. Freestyle wrestlers may attack them and grip below the waist, while Greco-Roman forbids lower-body holds. A quick leg takedown therefore belongs to freestyle and could not happen in a Greco-Roman bout.

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A cross-country skiing event in which competitors may use any skiing style they choose.

   Most skiers skated their way through the freestyle.

   The freestyle leg followed the classic-style leg in the pursuit.

   Note

   Cross-country skiing applies the pool's logic to the snow. The racer chooses the technique, and the event stands opposite the classic race, where only the parallel-track stride is allowed. With the choice open, competitors skate because it is faster. That habit is how the word came to name the skating technique.

10. 10
    noununcountable

    The cross-country skiing style more commonly known as skating.

    On groomed trails she relies on freestyle for extra speed.

    His freestyle stride ate up the long flat section.

    Similarskating

    Note

    The technique rather than the race. The skier angles each ski outward and pushes off against the snow, much like an ice skater's stride, instead of gliding both skis forward in parallel tracks. Freestyle and skating are interchangeable here. The contrasting term is classic, the older diagonal stride, which this technique outpaces.

11. 11
    noununcountableabbreviationellipsis

    Ellipsis of Latin freestyle, a form of electronic dance music.

    Old-school freestyle still fills the dance floor at retro nights.

    The DJ blended freestyle with classic hip-hop tracks.

    Note

    A clipped genre name. Latin freestyle, the dance music that grew up in the New York area in the 1980s, usually goes by its second word alone. It is distinct from improvised rapping, though Nick Minichino places its birth alongside hip-hop in the Bronx. Talk of a scene, a DJ or a dance floor signals that the genre is meant.

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