volunteer
pronunciation
How to pronounce volunteer in British English:
UK [ˌvɒlənˈtɪə(r)]
How to pronounce volunteer in American English:
US [ˌvɑːlənˈtɪr]
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- Noun:
- (military) a person who freely enlists for service
- a person who performs voluntary work
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- Verb:
- tell voluntarily
- agree freely
- do volunteer work
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- Adjective:
- without payment
Word Origin
- volunteer
- volunteer: [17] Volunteer comes via French volontaire from Latin voluntārius, a noun use of the adjective which gave English voluntary [14]. This was derived from the noun voluntās ‘will, free will’, which itself was based on volō ‘I will’ (source also of English volition).=> volition
- volunteer (n.)
- c. 1600, "one who offers himself for military service," from Middle French voluntaire, "one who volunteers," also as an adjective, "voluntary," from Latin voluntarius "voluntary, of one's free will," as a plural noun "volunteers" (see voluntary). Non-military sense is first recorded 1630s. As an adjective from 1640s. Tennessee has been the Volunteer State since the Mexican War, when a call for 2,800 volunteers brought out 30,000 men.
- volunteer (v.)
- 1755, from volunteer (n.). Related: Volunteered; volunteering (1690s as a verbal noun).
Example
- 1. They sit in small groups with an english-speaking volunteer .
- 2. Pure volunteer efforts are rare and difficult to sustain .
- 3. Will you be my ...... volunteer ?
- 4. Another volunteer measured the radiation level : 1.5 microsieverts an hour .
- 5. Instead she became a volunteer .