volition
noun
Did you know?
When you do something of your own volition, you do it voluntarily, which makes sense—both volition and voluntary ultimately come from the Latin velle, meaning “to wish” or “to will.” English speakers borrowed volition from French in the 17th century, using it at first to mean “an act of choosing,” a meaning Herman Melville employed in Moby-Dick (1851): “Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea.” By then, however, the word had also developed an additional meaning, “the power to choose,” which is now more common.
Examples of volition in a Sentence
Sean Gentille, New York Times, 10 May 2026
In February, a Meta employee went viral after posting about OpenClaw deleting a large amount of emails of its own volition.
—Kai Nicol-Schwarz, CNBC, 8 May 2026
Kotb stepped down from the Today show of her own volition, and has returned to help multiple times.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 7 May 2026
Across his hometown of Greenville, the out-of-the-way North Carolina city where Donaldson has headquartered his company, another 70 or so people are trapped, of their own volition, in a grocery store, the wilderness, or one of the studios Donaldson has built on his sprawling corporate campus.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for volition
Cite this Entry
“Volition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volition. Accessed 16 May. 2026.
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volition
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