Cambridge directly records free to do something and free from something, supporting a comparison of these distinct complement meanings.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionEnglish Usage
Quick answer
Use “free to do something” for permission or ability to act without restriction. Use “free from something” for absence, exemption, or release from the named condition or burden.
Key details
Confusion Familyverb-complement
Rule Familyverb-complementation
Termsfree to do, free from something
Further guidance
Core difference
Cambridge documents free + to-infinitive and free from + noun as standard patterns with different meanings.
Style Boundary
Do not substitute the prepositions mechanically: free to introduces an available action, while free from marks absence or release.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
Free↗ (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Direct learner-dictionary evidence for free to do something and free from something.
Cambridge directly records amazed + to-infinitive and amazed at + complement, making it an evidence-safe replacement for the unsupported Satisfied proposal.
Oxford directly records both ashamed + to-infinitive and ashamed of + noun/pronoun. The guide compares those attested structures without inventing an unsupported parallel complement.
Oxford directly documents averse to (doing) something. This is a prepositional to + noun/-ing construction, so a bare infinitive should not be assumed to be an interchangeable complement.
Oxford documents the idiomatic adjective pattern bent on (doing) something for determination. The evidence does not license a parallel bent + to-infinitive complement for that same meaning.
