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

Photosynthesis takes place inside chloroplasts, small compartments within plant cells that contain their own genome, reflecting their past as free-living photosynthetic bacteria before they were engulfed and co-opted by plants.

From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2024

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

These factories exist in plant and animal cells today but may once themselves have been free-living cells.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan