unfettered

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɛtəd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʌnˈfɛtɚd/

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• Audio (General Australian):

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unfettered

1. simple past and past participle of unfetter

From un- +‎ fettered.

unfettered (comparative more unfettered, superlative most unfettered)

1. Not bound by chains or shackles.

   Synonyms: free, unchained

   Antonym: fettered

   • 1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 68, in Barnaby Rudge:

     In a corner of the market among the pens for cattle, Barnaby knelt down, and pausing every now and then to pass his hand over his father’s face, or look up to him with a smile, knocked off his irons. When he had seen him spring, a free man, to his feet, and had given vent to the transport of delight which the sight awakened, he went to work upon his own, which soon fell rattling down upon the ground, and left his limbs unfettered.

2. (by extension) Not restricted.

   Synonyms: unrestricted, unbridled

   Antonym: fettered

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXVII, page 44:

     I envy not the beast that takes
     ⁠His license in the field of time,
     ⁠Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,
     To whom a conscience never wakes; […]

   • 1916, Thomas Clarke, Proclamation of the Irish Republic:

     We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.

   • 2012 April 19, Josh Halliday, “Free speech haven or lawless cesspool – can the internet be civilised?”, in the Guardian‎:

     Alexander says she has been accused of censorship "worse than a Syrian dictator" over her quest to have gang-related videos taken down. But her campaign shows the debate over a completely unfettered internet is not clear-cut.

   • 2018, Michael Cottakis – LSE, “Colliding worlds: Donald Trump and the European Union”, in LSE's blog‎:

     The EU was established to oppose the unfettered power of nation states and defuse the rivalries between them.

   • 2020 December 2, Christian Wolmar, “Wales offers us a glimpse of an integrated transport policy”, in Rail, page 56:

     The underlying problem with transport policy is that there no coherent strategy. Ministers have tended to encourage greater use of motor vehicles through both transport and (particularly) planning policies, while simultaneously warning of the terrible consequences of unfettered growth of road use.