noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A reliance on volunteers to support an institution or achieve an end; volunteerism. US, countable, uncountable
2. 2
   A doctrine that assigns the most dominant position to the will rather than the intellect. countable, uncountable
3. 3
   The political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

atomismautonomyfree willindependencephilosophyself-determination

Etymology

From voluntary + -ism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.