How to Use free association in a Sentence

free association

noun
Definition of free associationnext
  • His unconventional forms and spaces are always fodder for free association and double meanings.
    — Ted Loos, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2023
  • And part of the reason is because the U.S. values free speech and right to free association.
    — Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press, 9 Oct. 2020
  • But the process for both of them was certainly based on the concept of free association.
    — Sarah Medford, WSJ, 30 May 2018
  • In other words, some groups have a right to free association but others don’t.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2021
  • Challenges to mask bans on the grounds of free speech and free association have mostly failed in American courts.
    — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, 15 Apr. 2020
  • Something in human nature craves more than a sphere of rights, more than promises of nice things and free association.
    — Nick Burns, The New Republic, 7 Aug. 2019
  • In this approach, a platform would require users to form groups through free association, and then to post only through those groups, with the group’s imprimatur.
    — Jaron Lanier, The Atlantic, 26 May 2022
  • Word games and free association are unusual styles of texting, Jesse Barron, a reporter who covered the case for Esquire, says in the film.
    — Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 10 July 2019
  • His vision of the disparate worlds that the recent targets of his ire come from is uniformly dystopian—a free association of skin color with filth and crime.
    — Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 29 July 2019
  • The firm argued in its court filing that the release of the financial records would reveal the names of its clients and therefore violate its and their First Amendment rights to free speech and free association.
    — Katelyn Polantz, CNN, 28 Oct. 2017
  • All of this is almost certainly a violation of the First Amendment right to free association and speech.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 10 Mar. 2021
  • Bella’s adult son, Peter (played by Reed Birney, Albert’s uncle), turns up—and, as if in free association with his name, morphs into a wolf.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 16 Feb. 2022
  • Exploring is something that breaks the bounds of time and space and permits us free associations, perhaps with similar events in the past, perhaps with choice-worthy events in the future.
    — Martin Seligman, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Mar. 2018
  • On the legal front, fundamental rights to free association, free press and free speech have left courts cautious to intervene.
    — Nicole Hemmer, CNN, 19 Nov. 2021
  • The appeals panel held that the district court was wrong to dismiss plaintiffs’ free association claim, as their lawsuits raised a question that hasn’t yet been been decided by courts.
    — oregonlive, 1 Mar. 2021
  • The state-court case argues that the policy violates students’ right to free association.
    — Erin Hawley, National Review, 19 Aug. 2019
  • In that space, a sofa was never just a sofa, but an occasion for free association, a cue to unconscious thoughts and deeper feelings.
    — Penelope Green, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2020
  • Crosswords tug all sides of your mind, requiring you to dart from straightforward definitions to narrative logic to free association to bad dad puns, all in the same space.
    — Jerry Weissman, Forbes, 18 Sep. 2021
  • The gamechanger for me was a free association writing exercise.
    — Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 29 Apr. 2020
  • The second was that religious liberty and free association were at grave legal risk.
    — David French, National Review, 4 June 2019
  • His approach underscores the importance of free association and creativity, even in the midst of hectic days.
    — Elizabeth Lund, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr. 2023
  • The idea that such free association might intensify a piece of art would continue to preoccupy Freud.
    — Sophie Madeline Dess, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2019
  • And students have a right to free association, so schools often can't discipline members until a specific complaint is filed, Nuwer said.
    — Daniella Silva, NBC News, 18 Sep. 2017
  • Ward also said the subpoena was overly broad and violated First Amendment rights of free association.
    — Richard Ruelas, The Arizona Republic, 22 Sep. 2022
  • Our children are five and two—too old to be hypnotized by a rattle or a fidget spinner, too young to entertain themselves—so a six-hour drive amounted to an hour of napping, an hour of free association and sing-alongs, and four hours of desperation.
    — Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2023
  • To cover such a broad swathe of recent history, much of which has been rehashed in other documentaries and media, Lee applies a spirited free association.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2021
  • While the pair’s first collaboration of graphic tees took on the Jean Clemmer photographers and book titles, the second is more of a free association of ideas surrounding Dossena’s Spring collection theme.
    — Steff Yotka, Vogue, 23 May 2018
  • That may not make for the most organized collaborative process, but, given enough time, their free associations allow a certain simplicity and inner logic to emerge, after many, many ideas have come and gone.
    — Marina Harss, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2019
  • Specifically, researchers have found, a strong alliance will help the therapist and patient reach consensus on their goals, as well as on what sort of tasks — such as free association, Socratic questioning, or homework — will help achieve them.
    — TheWeek, 2 May 2020
  • Instead, conservatives should be standing up for the Constitution and its fundamental rights of free speech and free association.
    — Iain Murray, National Review, 24 Aug. 2021

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

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