walk free
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
police and MPs have strongly criticized a teenage vandal to walk free after he'd admitted stabbing a neighbour to death.
A nurse has walked free from an appeal court after a conviction for assaulting an elderly patient was quashed.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Common questions
What does “walk free” mean?
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Is “walk free” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.