Free love at sea, following sailors (7)
I believe the answer is:
absolve
'free' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'love at sea following sailors' is the wordplay.
'at sea' indicates anagramming the letters.
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'love' is an anagram of 'olve'.
'olve' put after 'abs' is 'ABSOLVE'.
(Other definitions for absolve that I've seen before include "Declare (someone) guilt-free" , "Declare (someone) free of guilt" , "Exonerate" , "Excuse" , "Grant pardon for" .)