What "free range" means to us:

Our chickens share a spacious coop, allowing over 4 square feet of floor space per bird. Every morning we open the door so they can range all over our property. They run around eating bugs, grass, scratching the dirt and digging holes to roll around in. When we open the door, they come running hoping for a treat.

This has also been referred to as pastured or grass-fed.

What free-range means to the chicken industry:

Typically, for them this is just not having them in cages. They would still have way too many chickens in a large barn, and maybe some small access outside that would usually be devoid of vegetation. But they don't get to run around eating bugs and grass and acting like a chicken in general. Chickens get cannabolistic when they don't have enough room - the industry's solution to that is to trim their beaks.