voluntary
AI In plain words
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
voluntary
- /ˈvɒl.ən.tɹi/ UK
- /ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/ US, dialectal
- /ˈvɒl.ən.t(ɛ)ɹi/ Canada, dialectal
- /ˈvɔl.ən.tɹi/ Australia
- /ˈvɒl.ən.tɹi/ New Zealand
- [ˈvɔ̟l.ən.tɹi] New Zealand
- [voˈlɔn.t̠ɹ̠̊ɹ̩.ri]
- /ˌvo.lɔnˈtɛ.ri/
Where it comes from
From Middle English voluntarie, from Old French volontaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, of free will”), from voluntās (“will, choice, desire”), from volēns, present participle of volo (“to will”). Displaced native Old English selfwille (literally “self-willed”).
adjective more voluntary · most voluntary
- Done, given, or acting of one's own free will. September 10, 1828, Nathaniel William Taylor, Sermon delivered in the Chapel of Yale College That sin or guilt pertains exclusively to voluntary action is the true principle of orthodoxy.
- Done by design or intention; intentional. If a man accidentally kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.
- Working or done without payment. Wikimedia is a voluntary service.
- Endowed with the power of willing. […] God did not work as a necessary, but a voluntary agent, intending before-hand, and decreeing with himself, that which did outwardly proceed from him.
- Of or relating to voluntarism. a voluntary church, in distinction from an established or state church
Similar: discretionary, optional, volitional, willful, intentional
adverb more voluntary · most voluntary
- Voluntarily. And all that els was pretious and deare, / The sea unto him voluntary brings [...].
noun voluntaries
- A short piece of music, often having improvisation, played on a solo instrument.
- A volunteer.
- A supporter of voluntarism; a voluntarist.
