free living

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Scientists have identified around 400 species of free-living amoebae, but only six are known to cause disease in humans - including Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba, both of which can infect the brain.

From BBC • Sep. 17, 2025

It’s also a parasite — because who needs to be free-living when you’re this fabulous?

From Salon • May 27, 2025

Cross-sectional data is a useful source of evidence on how diet affects health; it uses data that is observed with free-living people, without attempting to influence their usual lifestyle.

From Science Daily • Oct. 26, 2023

The “remarkable” new study shows that this division of labor happens in free-living larval forms as well, says Ryan Hechinger, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 21, 2023

They are much less closely related to me than to each other and to the free-living bacteria out under the hill.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas