VOLUNTARY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Voluntary

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/vˈɑləntɛri/ Listen

Voluntary

adjective

1.

Of your own free will or design; done by choice; not forced or compelled. "Participation was voluntary" , "Voluntary manslaughter" , "Voluntary generosity in times of disaster" , "Voluntary social workers" , "A voluntary confession"

2.

Controlled by individual volition. "Voluntary muscles"

noun

(pl. voluntaries)

1.

(military) a person who freely enlists for service. Synonyms: military volunteer, volunteer.

2.

Composition (often improvised) for a solo instrument (especially solo organ) and not a regular part of a religious service or musical performance.

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Voluntary" Quotes from Famous Books

... maintained that "all force is will-force." But "if there be any truth in the doctrine of Conservation of Force, ... this doctrine does not change from true to false when it reaches the field of voluntary agency. The will does not, any more than other agencies, create Force: granting that it originates motion, it has no means of doing so but by converting into that particular manifestation, a portion of Force which already existed in other ...

— A Candid Examination of Theism • George John Romanes

... possibility of idleness, and as if he had no idea of any recreation but in a change of employment. Not that he was always poring over books, but his mind was active, let him be about what he would; and, as his exertions were always voluntary, there was not that opposition in his opinion between the ideas of play and work, which exists so strongly in the imaginations of those school-boys who are driven to their tasks by fear, and who escape from them to that delicious exercise of their free-will which ...

— Tales And Novels, Volume 1 • Maria Edgeworth

... breathe by means of leaves; and propagate by means of seed, dispersed within certain limits. The Animal Kingdom consists of sentient beings, that enliven the external parts of the earth. They possess the powers of voluntary motion, respire air, and are forced into action by the cravings of hunger or the parching of thirst, by the instincts of animal passion, or by pain. Like the vegetable kingdom, they are limited within the boundaries of certain countries ...

— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... monition [Col. ii. 18.], and say, could St. Paul have {51} uttered these words without any qualifying expression, had he worshipped angels by invocation, even asking them only to aid him by their prayers. "Let no one beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels; not holding the Head," which Head he had in the first chapter (v. 18) declared to be the dear Son of God, "in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the ...

— Primitive Christian Worship • James Endell Tyler

... more money the American people lend to their government, the more powerful and relentless will be the American forces in the field. They know that only a united and determined America could possibly produce on a voluntary basis so huge a sum of money as fifteen ...

— The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt • Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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