What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Free vs Allow - What's the difference?

free | allow |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between free and allow

is that free is (obsolete) freely; willingly while allow is (obsolete) to like; to be suited or pleased with.

In lang=en terms the difference between free and allow

is that free is to make free; set at liberty; release; rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, or oppresses while allow is to render physically possible.

As verbs the difference between free and allow

is that free is to make free; set at liberty; release; rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, or oppresses while allow is to grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.

As an adjective free

is (label) unconstrained.

As an adverb free

is without needing to pay.

As a noun free

is (australian rules football|gaelic football) abbreviation of free kick.

free

English

Adjective

(er)
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist), author=Schumpeter
  • , title=[http://www.economist.com/news/business/21583242-businesspeople-have-become-too-influential-government-cronies-and-capitols Cronies and capitols] , passage=Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.}}
  • # Not imprisoned or enslaved.
  • # Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved; frank; communicative.
  • #* Milward
  • He was free only with a few.
  • # Generous; liberal.
  • # (label) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • My hands are guilty, but my heart is free .
  • # Without obligations.
  • # Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free / For me as for you?
  • # Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; said of a government, institutions, etc.
  • # (label) With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.
  • # (label) Intended for release, as opposed to a checked version.
  • Obtainable without any payment.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title=[http://www.economist.com/news/http://www.economist.com/news/business/21582001-army-new-online-courses-scaring-wits-out-traditional-universities-can-they The attack of the MOOCs] , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • # Obtainable without additional payment, as a bonus given when paying for something else.
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • # (label) Unconstrained by relators.
  • # Unconstrained by quantifiers.
  • # (label) Of identifiers, not bound.
  • # That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
  • (label) Unconstrained.
  • # Unobstructed, without blockages.
  • # Unattached or uncombined.
  • # Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.
  • # Not attached; loose.
  • #*
  • Furthermore, the free anterior margin of the lobule is arched toward the lobe and is often involute
  • Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.
  • * (w) (1635?-1715)
  • princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
  • (label) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
  • (label) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of .
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • He therefore makes all birds, of every sect, / Free of his farm.
  • Certain or honourable; the opposite of base .
  • (Burrill)
  • (label) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common .
  • (Burrill)

    Synonyms

    * (obtainable without payment) free of charge, gratis * (unconstrained) unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered * (unobstructed) clear, unobstructed * libre * (without) without * unbound

    Antonyms

    * (not imprisoned or enslaved) bound, enslaved, imprisoned * (unconstrained) constrained, restricted * bound * (unobstructed) blocked, obstructed * bound * proprietary software

    Derived terms

    * -free * free Abelian group, free abelian group * free algebra * free and clear * free and easy * free as a bird * freeball * freebooter * free fall * free group * freelance * freeloader * free lunch * freely * free market * free marketeer * Freemason * free module * free object * free of charge * free rein * free ride * free rider * free semigroup * free speech * free spirit * free-spoken * free-thinker * free time * free variable * free vote * freeware * freeway * freewheel * free will * unfree

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Without needing to pay.
  • I got this bike free .
  • (obsolete) Freely; willingly.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I as free forgive you / As I would be forgiven.

    Synonyms

    * for free, for nothing

    Verb

    (d)
  • To make free; set at liberty; release; rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, or oppresses.
  • Hyponyms

    * emancipate * liberate * manumit * release * unchain * unfetter

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
  • * 2006 , [http://footballlegends.org/daryn_cresswell.htm]:
  • Whether deserved or not, the free' gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.
  • free transfer
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 21 , author=Sam Lyon , title=Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham , work=BBC Sport , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14910208.stm , page= , passage=Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.}}
  • (hurling) The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
  • Usage notes

    *

    allow

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.
  • * 2004 , Constance Garnett (translator), Anton Chekhov (Russian author), “Ariadne”, in The Darling: and Other Stories :
  • he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.
  • To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
  • * 1855 , (William Makepeace Thackeray), (The Newcomes)
  • I allow , with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conductwas highly reprehensible.
  • To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
  • To grant license to; to permit; to consent to.
  • *
  • With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get
  • To not bar or obstruct.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • To acknowledge or concede.
  • * 2000 , (George RR Martin), A Storm of Swords , Bantam (2011), page 154:
  • Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
  • To take into account by making an allowance.
  • When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
  • To render physically possible.
  • * 1824 , (Washington Irving), :
  • The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • (obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
  • * Bible, Luke xi. 48
  • Ye allow the deeds of your fathers.
  • * Fuller
  • We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
  • (obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thou shalt be allowed with absolute power.
  • (obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.
  • * Massinger
  • How allow you the model of these clothes?

    Synonyms

    * allot, assign, bestow, concede, admit, let, permit, suffer, tolerate

    Derived terms

    * allowance * allowable

    References

    *

    Statistics

    * English control verbs