If there is a penalty for saying what you wish, do you really have free speech or the resemblance of such?

The term ”free speech” conjures up the thought of being free to say whatever you wish. If there was a car in the lot that said ”free” you would expect that if you took the offer there is no cost for the car, less the tax that the dealer is not receiving but the government. If one says something about someone else that was negative, or even not true, if that person can be sued or in some way receive a negative outcome, or a rebuke for doing so, was their speech really free? Is there a limitation on ”free”, if there are strings attached or limitations can you really say it was totally free, and if not totally free, in reality isn’t it just ”less restrictive”, but not truly free?