volunteer

1 of 3

noun

vol·​un·​teer ˌvä-lən-ˈtir How to pronounce volunteer (audio)
1
: a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service: such 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

volunteer

2 of 3

verb

volunteered; volunteering; volunteers

intransitive verb

: to offer oneself as a volunteer
volunteered to host the meeting

transitive verb

: to offer or bestow voluntarily
volunteer one's services

volunteer

3 of 3

adjective

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

Examples of volunteer in a Sentence

Noun Volunteers are needed to help with the bake sale. The school was built by volunteers. Verb Our son volunteered for military service. He would not volunteer any information about her whereabouts. Adjective volunteer work at the hospital
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Sharing the other side of her rental is hunky, Dorian Black, a local volunteer firefighter and Mr. December in their fundraising calendar. Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 Dec. 2024 Ryan does a bit of everything, including working with the volunteers. Andrew Stelzer, NPR, 6 Dec. 2024
Verb
This Thanksgiving and holiday season our guests may volunteer opinions on any number of divisive topics. Julie Garel, Baltimore Sun, 27 Nov. 2024 Indeed, one study found that men are about 12% more likely than women to volunteer their previous pay—likely because men were paid more in their previous positions. Kim Elsesser, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2024
Adjective
Within the past couple of years, the group has become a part of Arrowhead Kingdom, an all-volunteer national network of Chiefs fan groups. Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2023 That’s noteworthy for a show based at a high-school auditorium in Litchfield and run by a staff that is almost entirely volunteer, including the show’s star and its producer. Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2022 See all Example Sentences for volunteer 

Word History

Etymology

Noun

obsolete French voluntaire (now volontaire), from voluntaire, adjective, voluntary, from Old French, from Latin voluntarius

First Known Use

Noun

circa 1600, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1709, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Adjective

1649, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of volunteer was circa 1600

Dictionary Entries Near volunteer

Cite this Entry

“Volunteer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volunteer. Accessed 11 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

volunteer

1 of 3 noun
vol·​un·​teer ˌväl-ən-ˈti(ə)r How to pronounce volunteer (audio)
: a person who volunteers for a service

volunteer

2 of 3 adjective
: being, consisting of, or engaged in by volunteers
a volunteer fire department
volunteer activities

volunteer

3 of 3 verb
1
: to offer voluntarily
volunteered my services
2
: to offer oneself as a volunteer
volunteered to do the job

Legal Definition

volunteer

noun
vol·​un·​teer ˌvä-lən-ˈtir How to pronounce volunteer (audio)
1
: one that voluntarily undertakes something
especially : one who without request, obligation, or an interest pays the debt of another and is denied reimbursement from subrogation
2
: one who receives property without giving valuable consideration

More from Merriam-Webster on volunteer

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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