Which is correct: barrier free trade or barrier-free trade?
It's best treated as a compound word: "barrier-free" It belongs to a category of compound word called 'adjective-centred compound adjectives'. It's quite a productive pattern; other examples with "- free" include " tax-free", "cholesterol-free", "alcohol-free " And there are quite a few with other adjectives as the second component, for example: " oil-rich", "camera-shy", "burglar-proof" In most case, such compounds are comparable to syntactic constructions where the adjective has a following preposition phrase as complement or modifier, cf. "free of barriers", "free of tax", free of alcohol", "rich in oil", "proof against burglars".
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
It's best treated as a compound word:
"barrier-free"
It belongs to a category of compound word called 'adjective-centred compound adjectives'.
It's quite a productive pattern; other examples with "- free" include
"tax-free", "cholesterol-free", "alcohol-free"
And there are quite a few with other adjectives as the second component, for exa