Voluntary
adj, adv, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A short piece of music, often having improvisation, played on a solo instrument.
- 2 composition (often improvised) for a solo instrument (especially solo organ) and not a regular part of a religious service or musical performance wordnet
- 3 A volunteer.
- 4 (military) a person who freely enlists for service wordnet
- 5 A supporter of voluntarism; a voluntarist.
- 1 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."
- 2 Done by design or intention; intentional.
"If a man accidentally kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter."
- 3 Working or done without payment.
"Wikimedia is a voluntary service."
- 4 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."
- 5 Of or relating to voluntarism.
"a voluntary church, in distinction from an established or state church"
- 1 of your own free will or design; done by choice; not forced or compelled wordnet
- 2 controlled by individual volition wordnet
- 1 Voluntarily. obsolete
"And all that els was pretious and deare, / The sea unto him voluntary brings [...]."
Example
More examples"The company appealed for people to take voluntary resignation."
Etymology
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”).
Related phrases
More for "voluntary"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.