free enterprise

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with minimal government regulation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun 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.
• noun The conduct of business according to the principles of the free enterprise doctrine; the conduct of economic activity without governmental interference.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An economic system of business governed by the laws of supply and demand with minimal goverment interference, regulation, or subsidy

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an economy that relies chiefly on market forces to allocate goods and resources and to determine prices