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word choice - Is this usage of "reign" correct?


Lately I've noticed increasing usage of the phrase "free reign". Is this a legitimate usage of the word "reign", or is this a corruption of the phrase "free rein"?


I've been dismissing usages of "free reign" as grammatical errors, but I'm beginning to see this phrase used even in print, so I'm questioning my initial dismissal of this phrase.



Answer



The NOAD reports the following note, in the definition of reign:



The correct idiomatic phrase is free rein, not free reign.



In the definition of rein, the dictionary adds the following notes:



The idiomatic phrase a free rein, which derives from the literal meaning of using reins to control a horse, is sometimes misinterpreted and written as a free reign. More than a third of the citations for the phrase in the Oxford English Corpus use reign instead of rein.



Grammatically speaking, both the phrases would be correct, but the idiomatic phrase should be free rein.


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