Adjacent Words

Volunteer definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VOLUNTEE'R, n. A person who enters into military or other service of his own free will. In military affairs, volunteers enter into service voluntarily, but when in service they are subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers. They sometimes serve gratuitously, but often receive a compensation.
VOLUNTEE'R, a. Entering into service of free will; as volunteer companies.
VOLUNTEE'R, v.t. To offer or bestow voluntarily, or without solicitation or compulsion; as, to volunteer one's services.
VOLUNTEE'R, v.i. To enter into any service of one's free will, without solicitation or compulsion. He volunteered in that undertaking.
[These verbs are in respectable use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: without payment; "the soup kitchen was run primarily by unpaid helpers"; "a volunteer fire department" [syn: unpaid, volunteer] n
1: (military) a person who freely enlists for service [syn: volunteer, military volunteer, voluntary] [ant: conscript, draftee, inductee]
2: a person who performs voluntary work [syn: volunteer, unpaid worker]
3: a native or resident of Tennessee [syn: Tennessean, Volunteer] v
1: tell voluntarily; "He volunteered the information"
2: agree freely; "She volunteered to drive the old lady home"; "I offered to help with the dishes but the hostess would not hear of it" [syn: volunteer, offer]
3: do volunteer work

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: obsolete French voluntaire (now volontaire), from voluntaire, adjective, voluntary, from Old French, from Latin voluntarius Date: circa 1600 1. a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service: as a. one who enters into military service voluntarily b. (1) one who renders a service or takes part in a transaction while having no legal concern or interest (2) one who receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration 2. a volunteer plant 3. capitalized [Volunteers of America] a member of a quasi-military religious and philanthropic organization founded in 1896 by Commander and Mrs. Ballington Booth II. adjective Date: 1649 1. being, consisting of, or engaged in by volunteers <a volunteer army> <busy with volunteer activities> 2. growing spontaneously without direct human control or supervision especially from seeds lost from a previous crop <volunteer corn plants> III. verb Date: circa 1755 intransitive verb to offer oneself as a volunteer <volunteered to host the meeting> transitive verb to offer or bestow voluntarily <volunteer one's services>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a person who voluntarily undertakes a task or enters military or other service, esp. Mil. hist. a member of any of the corps of voluntary soldiers formerly organized in the UK and provided with instructors, arms, etc., by the State. 2 (usu. attrib.) a self-sown plant. --v. 1 tr. (often foll. by to + infin.) undertake or offer (one's services, a remark or explanation, etc.) voluntarily. 2 intr. (often foll. by for) make a voluntary offer of one's services; be a volunteer. Etymology: F volontaire (as VOLUNTARY), assim. to -EER

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Volunteer Vol`un*teer", n. [F. volontaire. See Voluntary, a.] 1. One who enters into, or offers for, any service of his own free will. 2. (Mil.) One who enters into 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 grantee in a voluntary conveyance; one to whom a conveyance is made without valuable consideration; a party, other than a wife or child of the grantor, to whom, or for whose benefit, a voluntary conveyance is made. --Burrill.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Volunteer Vol`un*teer", a. Of or pertaining to a volunteer or volunteers; consisting of volunteers; voluntary; as, volunteer companies; volunteer advice.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Volunteer Vol`un*teer", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Volunteered; p. pr. & vb. n. Volunteering.] To offer or bestow voluntarily, or without solicitation or compulsion; as, to volunteer one's services.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Volunteer Vol`un*teer", v. i. To enter into, or offer for, any service of one's own free will, without solicitation or compulsion; as, he volunteered in that undertaking.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(volunteers, volunteering, volunteered) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A volunteer is someone who does work without being paid for it, because they want to do it. She now helps in a local school as a volunteer three days a week... Mike was a member of the local volunteer fire brigade. N-COUNT 2. A volunteer is someone who offers to do a particular task or job without being forced to do it. Right. What I want now is two volunteers to come down to the front... N-COUNT 3. If you volunteer to do something, you offer to do it without being forced to do it. Aunt Mary volunteered to clean up the kitchen... He volunteered for the army in 1939... She volunteered as a nurse in a soldiers' rest-home... He's volunteered his services as a chauffeur. VERB: V to-inf, V for n, V as n, V n, also V 4. If you volunteer information, you tell someone something without being asked. (FORMAL) The room was quiet; no one volunteered any further information... 'They were both great supporters of Franco,' Ryle volunteered... The next week, Phillida volunteered that they were getting on better. VERB: V n, V with quote, V that 5. A volunteer is someone who chooses to join the armed forces, especially during a war, as opposed to someone who is forced to join by law. They fought as volunteers with the Afghan guerrillas... N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Offer, proffer, tender, present.

Moby Thesaurus

arbitrary, autonomous, autonomousness, autonomy, come forward, discretional, discretionary, do independently, do voluntarily, elective, free, free will, gratuitous, gratuitousness, independence, independent, need no prodding, nonmandatory, offered, optional, proffered, self-acting, self-action, self-active, self-activity, self-determination, self-determined, self-determining, spontaneity, spontaneous, spontaneousness, step forward, unasked, unbesought, unbidden, uncalled-for, uncoerced, uncompelled, unforced, unforcedness, uninfluenced, uninvited, unpressured, unprompted, unrequested, unrequired, unsolicited, unsought, voluntariness, voluntarism, voluntary, voluntaryism, volunteer militia, volunteer navy, volunteering, willful