involuntary

adjective

(ˌ)in-ˈvä-lən-ˌter-ē How to pronounce involuntary (audio)
Definition of involuntarynext
1
as in accidental
not made or done willingly or by choice my long stays on the sidelines during our football games were strictly involuntary

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in automatic
done instantly and without conscious thought or decision breathing is involuntary

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in compulsory
forcing one's compliance or participation by or as if by law the abolition of involuntary servitude by civilized society

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of involuntary According to the Partnership for Public Service, more than 200,000 civil servants left the federal workforce in 2025 through voluntary and involuntary separations aimed at reducing head count. — Arkansas Online, 9 Aug. 2026 Over the ensuing decades, this sort of involuntary treatment has only become more common, while the evidence gets murkier. — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 4 Aug. 2026 But advocates for the disabled community say involuntary institutionalization strips people of their autonomy and poses a higher risk of neglect and abuse. — Stephanie Armour, CBS News, 31 July 2026 The company’s campaign directs people experiencing involuntary movements to their dedicated website and encourages them to consult healthcare providers. — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 29 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for involuntary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for involuntary
  1. accidental
  2. automatic
  3. compulsory
  4. spontaneous
  5. mechanical
  6. mandatory
  7. unwilling
  8. reflex
Adjective
  • Some lawsuits have been filed by families of children and young adults who died by suicide after problematic use of social media, and families whose kids died from accidental overdoses from drug purchases facilitated by social platforms.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Now the accidental entrepreneur, Elizabeth Stein, is making the biggest sale of her life.
    — Chloe Sorvino, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of accidental
Adjective
  • The new safeguards include requiring law enforcement to label every search with a with a criminal case number, and instituting an automatic review for abnormal search activities, which will trigger proactive lockouts for those users.
    — Soo Youn, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm specializing in civil liberties cases, identified over 100 incidents of automatic license plate reader abuse, including stalking and wrongful stops.
    — Charlie De Mar, CBS News, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of automatic
Adjective
  • Voting is optional in New Zealand but enrollment for those eligible and living in the country is compulsory, with failure to do so punishable by a fine of 100 New Zealand dollars ($59).
    — ABC News, ABC News, 10 Aug. 2026
  • While vessel inspections are not compulsory, member states can request a secondary inspection of a vessel in line with specified criteria.
    — Melissa Hancock, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of compulsory
Adjective
  • How spontaneous is the crew in choosing to, say, send you off on a commuter train in Mumbai?
    — Lale Arikoglu, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The team also showed that the spontaneous mode could act as a magnonic parametric amplifier, producing gains of up to 40 decibels.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of spontaneous
Adjective
  • Researchers in Germany are developing textile yarns that can repeatedly shorten and lengthen in response to temperature changes, potentially allowing fabrics to alter their shape without motors or other mechanical components.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Tire debris damaged the aircraft and contributed to multiple mechanical problems.
    — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of mechanical
Adjective
  • Indeed, the broad backlash against Flock has grown so strong that the surveillance company last week announced mandatory new audit controls and lower default data retention periods for US users.
    — Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Make an accuracy-and-baseline plan a mandatory pre-deployment gate, with the same formal sign-off as a security review, and separate offline testing from production monitoring, since models degrade quietly through data drift long after launch.
    — Sriram Bhargav Madhav, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of mandatory
Adjective
  • Barcelona believe the Argentina striker wants to join, but Atletico are unwilling to sell for anything close to the €100m or so that the Camp Nou outfit are currently able to offer.
    — Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Instead, in their wake, the league veered far in the other direction, taking the finesse out of the game and turning on-court play into a street fight, with officials unable or unwilling to get their arms round the physicality.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of unwilling
Adjective
  • Padmini smiled, though this appeared more reflex than friendliness.
    — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
  • One breath, just long enough to let the reflex pass and judgment catch up.
    — Alfonso Cahero, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
Definition of reflex

Browse Nearby Words

involuntarily
involuntary
involute
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Cite this Entry

“Involuntary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/involuntary. Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on involuntary

Nglish: Translation of involuntary for Spanish Speakers

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