an economic system having predominantly private ownership of the means of production, and relying chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine prices, and having a minimum of governmental interference in economic decisions; also, the political doctrine advocating such a system as the economic system of a country. [WordNet 1.5]
The conduct of business according to the principles of the free enterprise doctrine; the conduct of economic activity without governmental interference. [PJC]

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THESAURUS

free enterprise

autarky, bimetallism, bourgeois, capitalism, capitalist, capitalistic system, economic self-sufficiency, finance capitalism, free competition, free economy, free trade, free-enterprise economy, free-enterprise system, governmentalism, individualism, individualistic, isolationism, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, laissez-faireism, let-alone policy, let-alone principle, liberalism, line, localism, managed currency, noninterference, nonintervention, nonsocialistic, nullification, party line, party principle, planned economy, policy, polity, position, price supports, private enterprise, private ownership, private sector, private-enterprise, protection, protectionism, public policy, pump-priming, rugged individualism, sectionalism, self-regulating market, state capitalism

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