What is the difference between the adjectives ending in - LESS and those ending in - FREE?
- Is the chewing gum 'sugarless' or 'sugar-free'?
In this particular example, chewing gum, breakfast cereal, or food in general can often be described as 'sugarless' or 'sugar-free'. Whenever you form the adjective by adding the suffix -less or -free, you are describing something as not having or not affected by the thing mentioned.
This piece of work was quite error-free. It was an errorless piece of work.
homeless people,
trouble-free journey
duty-free goods
meaningless exercise
powerless prisoners
meaningless exercise
germ-free environment
tireless runners
doubtless the case
Note that the suffix 'less' or '-free' is normally added to nouns to form the adjective. In the penultimate example, it is added to the verb 'tire' and in the final example, 'doubt' can be viewed as either noun or verb.
Note that 'careless' and 'carefree' are not alternatives. They are quite different in meaning.
A 'careless person' is someone who does not take very much care over what he is doing, whereas a 'carefree person' is someone who has no worries.
The suffix '-free' is usually hyphenated and is a stressed syllable (unlike 'less'). However, in two of the above examples, 'sugarfree' and 'carefree', there is normally no hyphen.