free rein

in a sentence

Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?  (source) J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998

And where Nina would not hesitate to cut someone off in mid-assertion in order to make a contrary point and then declare the matter decided once and for all, Sofia would listen so attentively and with such a sympathetic smile that her interlocutor, having been given free rein to express his views at considerable length, often found his voice petering out as he began to question his own premises….  (source) Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow, 2016

A chill snaked down her spine, but she shook her head, just as a guard entered and told them that Brullo had ordered them to have free rein of the training hall today and to practice what they wanted.  (source) Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass, 2012

Unlike Hall, who insisted that our group stay together while climbing above Base Camp, under the close watch of the guides, Fischer believed in giving his clients free rein to go up and down the mountain independently during the acclimatization period.  (source) Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air, 1997

Some believe it's a carryover from the old days of the Kennedy heritage in Ireland, where the leader of a clan commonly had free rein to sleep with women outside of marriage.  (source) Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard, Killing Kennedy, 2012

We rarely are allowed to give free rein to our competitive natures, though they live in us just as strongly as they do in men.  (source) Libba Bray, Sweet Far Thing, 2007

We also have a contract which explicitly gives me free rein to make the editorial changes I deem necessary.  (source) Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, 2009

Mr. Peale had given him a free rein to wander and enjoy himself after being cooped up in the house.†  (source) Laurie Halse Anderson, Fever, 1793, 2000

These might form a certain image or pattern—at least, if we give our imagination free rein.†  (source) Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World, 1991

I did not tell her that they had promised to give me a device which would open the Time Tombs and allow the Shrike free rein...CEO Gladstone had long talks with me.†  (source) Dan Simmons, Hyperion, 1989

Fishermen sometimes shot duck loads at them, but for the most part the gulls were given free rein on the docks; their gray white droppings stained everything.†  (source) David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars, 1995

The old woman who had lived there had refused to leave, but Capricorn wouldn't tolerate prying eyes so close to his new hideout and gave his followers free rein.†  (source) Cornelia Funke, Inkheart, 2003

But, as she did every night, Blanca had locked her door and slipped out the window in the direction of the river The last few days before returning to the city, her summer passion took on a dramatic quality, and with a new separation imminent, the two young people seized every possible opportunity to give free rein to their desires.†  (source) Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits, 1986