FREE-LIVING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does free-living mean? 

• FREE-LIVING (adjective)
  The adjective FREE-LIVING has 1 sense:

1. not parasitic on another organism

  Familiarity information: FREE-LIVING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FREE-LIVING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not parasitic on another organism

Synonyms:

free-living; nonparasitic; nonsymbiotic

Similar:

independent (free from external control and constraint)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

 Context examples 

Further, he pointed out there is no evidence "that free-living individuals ever achieve such a low level” as recommended in the guidelines.

(Study Shows Average Consumption of Salt Good for Heart Health, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The free-living, mycelial form of Ajellomyces capsulatus.

(Histoplasma capsulatum, NCI Thesaurus)

This relationship is a rare example of cooperation between humans and free-living animals.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Mutualisms are crucial everywhere in nature, but to our knowledge, the only comparable foraging partnership between wild animals and our own species involves free-living dolphins who chase schools of mullet into fishermen’s nets and in so doing manage to catch more for themselves.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

What’s remarkable about the honeyguide-human relationship is that it involves free-living wild animals whose interactions with humans have probably evolved through natural selection, probably over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, says Spottiswoode, a specialist in bird behavioural ecology in Africa.

(How humans and wild Honeyguide birds call each other to help, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)