free-living
Existing without host
Free-living describes organisms that exist independently rather than as parasites or symbionts: free-living bacteria in the soil.
The term also means living without restraint or conventional obligations—pursuing pleasure, avoiding commitment: After the divorce, he enjoyed a free-living few years.
In biology, free-living contrasts with parasitic; in lifestyle, with settled or responsible.
Not exploiting another organism
- autotrophicProducing own food internally
- heterotrophicRequiring organic sustenance
- commensalHarmless biological freeloader
- symbioticMutually dependent relationship
mutualistic · motile · planktonic · benthic · sessile · colonial · unicellular · multicellular
Able to provide independently
- independentFree from external control
- self-reliantAble to provide independently
- self-sustainingAble to continue independently
- self-supportingAble to maintain oneself
autonomous · self-directed · self-governed · self-contained · self-standing · empowered · sovereign · autarkic
Departing from standard practice
- bohemianArtistic nonconformist type
- nomadicWithout fixed residence
- itinerantMoving for work
- footlooseFree from commitments
carefree · unattached · untethered · roaming · wandering · drifting · vagabond · rootless
Not held back
- liberatedReleased from confinement
- unboundNot tied down
- unfetteredFree from restriction
- unrestrictedHaving no limitations
unconfined · unshackled · unbridled · uninhibited · uncontrolled · emancipated · untamed · wild
nonparasitic
Not exploiting another organism
- autotrophicProducing own food internally
- heterotrophicRequiring organic sustenance
- commensalHarmless biological freeloader
symbiotic · mutualistic · motile · planktonic · benthic · sessile · colonial · unicellular · multicellular · prokaryotic
self-sufficient
Able to provide independently
- independentFree from external control
- self-reliantAble to provide independently
- self-sustainingAble to continue independently
self-supporting · autonomous · self-directed · self-governed · self-contained · self-standing · empowered · sovereign · autarkic · unaffiliated
unconventional
Departing from standard practice
footloose · carefree · unattached · untethered · roaming · wandering · drifting · vagabond · rootless · transient
unrestrained
Not held back
- liberatedReleased from confinement
- unboundNot tied down
- unfetteredFree from restriction
unrestricted · unconfined · unshackled · unbridled · uninhibited · uncontrolled · emancipated · untamed · wild · feral
- Metagenomics16S rRNA, MAG, gut microbiome, binning, species identification
- nematodesnematode, nematodes, roundworm, roundworms, pinworm
free-livingparasitic
Exploiting a host organism
dependent · symbiotic · commensal · obligate parasite · mutualistic
free-livinginstitutionalized
Made formally standard
confined · captive · domesticated · bound · cloistered