unfettered

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

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unfettered

1. simple past tense and past participle of unfetter

unfettered (comparative more unfettered, superlative most unfettered)

1. Not bound by chains or shackles.
   • 1841 — Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, ch. 68

     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.
   • 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.

   • 1916 — Easter_Proclamation (Proclamation of the 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.

   • 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.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:unfettered.

• (not bound by chains): free, unchained
• (not restricted): unrestricted