different between volitional vs volunteer

English

Etymology

volition +? -al

Adjective

volitional (comparative more volitional, superlative most volitional)

1. Of or relating to the volition or will.
   • 1942, Olaf Stapledon, Darkness and the Light, Chapter 5, iii,^[1]

     Little by little the whole subject population of the world was fitted with the instruments of volitional control. The government was now practically omnipotent.

   • 1957, Leo Kanner, Child Psychology, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 3rd edition, Part Two, Chapter 4, p. 42,^[2]

     Stern and Karl Bühler noticed independently that a child’s first “No” has a volitional meaning and that the significance as a simple denial of fact appears several months afterwards.

2. Done by conscious, personal choice; not based on external principles; not accidental.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, London: The Egoist Press, p. 182,^[3]

     A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals to discovery.

   • 2016, Rebecca Mead, “The Power of ‘Love’ in Politics,” The New Yorker, 28 July, 2016,^[4]

     “Loving on” someone—whether he likes it or not—posits love as a volitional activity, an act not of passion but of will.

Synonyms

• (done by conscious choice): deliberate, voluntary

Derived terms

• unvolitional

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin volunt?rius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary +? -eer.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /v?l.?n?t??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /v?l.?n?t??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Hyphenation: vol?un?teer

Noun

volunteer (plural volunteers)

1. One who enters into, or offers for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
2. (military) One who enters into military service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.
3. (law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
4. (botany, agriculture) A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
5. A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

Related terms

• voluntarism
• voluntarist
• volunteership

Translations

Verb

volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)

1. (intransitive) To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

   to volunteer for doing the dishes

3. (transitive) To offer, usually unprompted.

   to volunteer an explanation

4. (intransitive, botany) To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
5. (transitive, informal) To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

   My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

Translations

References

• volunteer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.