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volunteer. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
volunteer, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
volunteer in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
volunteer you have here. The definition of the word
volunteer will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
volunteer, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.
Pronunciation
Noun
volunteer (plural volunteers)
- One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.
- (military) One who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript.
- (military) A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.
2007 April 30, Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 16:That summer and fall the Army organized twenty-five regiments of volunteers, including two black regiments, which would have all-black captains and lieutenants. All officers were to be selected from regulars and volunteers who had distinguished themselves […]
- (law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
- (botany, agriculture) A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
- A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
one who voluntarily offers themselves for service
- Albanian: vullnetar (sq) m
- Arabic: مُتَطَوِّع m (mutaṭawwiʕ), مُتَطَوِّعَة f (mutaṭawwiʕa)
- Armenian: կամավոր (hy) (kamavor)
- Azerbaijani: könüllü (az)
- Bashkir: ирекмән (irekmən)
- Belarusian: добраахво́тнік m (dobraaxvótnik), добраахво́тніца f (dobraaxvótnica), валанцёр m (valancjór), валанцёрка f (valancjórka)
- Bulgarian: доброво́лец m (dobrovólec)
- Burmese: စေတနာ့ဝန်ထမ်း (my) (ceta.na.wanhtam:)
- Catalan: voluntari (ca) m
- Central Melanau: volentir
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 志願者/志愿者 (zh) (zhìyuànzhě)
- Crimean Tatar: please add this translation if you can
- Czech: dobrovolník (cs) m, dobrovolnice f
- Danish: frivillig (da) c
- Dutch: vrijwilliger (nl) m, vrijwilligster (nl) f
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Estonian: vabatahtlik
- Finnish: vapaaehtoinen (fi)
- French: volontaire (fr) m or f, bénévole (fr) m or f
- Georgian: მოხალისე (moxalise)
- German: Freiwilliger (de) m, Freiwillige (de) f, Ehrenamtlicher (de) m, Ehrenamtliche (de) f
- Greek: εθελοντής (el) m (ethelontís)
- Hebrew: מתנדב m (mitnadev), מתנדבת f (mitnadevet)
- Hindi: स्वयंसेवक (hi) m (svayansevak), वालंटियर (hi) m (vālaṇṭiyar)
- Hungarian: önkéntes (hu)
- Icelandic: sjálfboðaliði m
- Italian: volontario (it) m, volontaria (it) f
- Japanese: ボランティア (ja) (borantia)
- Kazakh: ерікті (erıktı)
- Khmer: អ្នកស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត (nĕək smak cət)
- Korean: 지원자(志願者) (jiwonja), 볼런티어 (bolleontieo)
- Kyrgyz: ыктыярчы (ıktıyarcı)
- Lao: ຜູ້ອາສາສະໝັກ (phū ʼā sā sa mak)
- Latin: volo (la) m, voluntārius m
- Latvian: brīvprātīgais m, brīvprātīgs
- Lithuanian: savanoris m, savanorė f
- Macedonian: доброволец m (dobrovolec), волонте́р m (volontér)
- Malay: sukarelawan (ms), volenter
- Maori: kaitūao
- Norman: volontaithe m or f
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: frivillig m or f
- Persian: داوْطَلَب (fa) (dâvtalab)
- Polish: wolontariusz (pl) m, wolontariuszka (pl) f, ochotnik (pl) m (dated)
- Portuguese: voluntário (pt) m
- Romanian: voluntar (ro) m, voluntară f
- Russian: доброво́лец (ru) m (dobrovólec), доброво́лица (ru) f (dobrovólica), волонтёр (ru) m (volontjór), волонтёрка (ru) f (volontjórka) (this feminine form is colloquial)
- Scottish Gaelic: neach-deònach m or f, saor-thoileach m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: доброво́љац m
- Roman: dobrovóljac (sh) m
- Slovak: dobrovoľník m, dobrovoľníčka f
- Slovene: prostovoljec m, prostovoljka f
- Spanish: voluntario (es)
- Swedish: frivillig (sv) c, volontär (sv) c
- Tajik: довталаб (tg) (dovtalab)
- Thai: อาสาสมัคร (th) (aa-sǎa-sà-màk)
- Tibetan: དྭང་བླངས་བྱེད་མཁན (dwang blangs byed mkhan)
- Turkish: gönüllü (tr)
- Turkmen: meýletinçi
- Ukrainian: доброво́лець m (dobrovólecʹ), доброво́лиця f (dobrovólycja), волонте́р m (volontér), волонте́рка f (volontérka)
- Urdu: رَضا کار m (razā kār), والَنْٹِیَر m (vālanṭiyar)
- Uyghur: پىدائىي (pida'iy)
- Uzbek: koʻngilli (uz)
- Vietnamese: quân tình nguyện, tình nguyện viên
- Welsh: gwirfoddolwr m
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voluntary soldier
- Arabic: مُتَطَوِّع m (mutaṭawwiʕ), مُتَطَوِّعَة f (mutaṭawwiʕa)
- Belarusian: добраахво́тнік m (dobraaxvótnik), добраахво́тніца f (dobraaxvótnica), валанцёр m (valancjór), валанцёрка f (valancjórka)
- Bulgarian: доброво́лец m (dobrovólec)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 志願兵/志愿兵 (zh) (zhìyuànbīng)
- Dutch: vrijwilliger (nl) m
- Finnish: vapaaehtoinen (fi)
- French: volontaire (fr) m or f
- Georgian: მოხალისე (moxalise)
- German: Freiwilliger (de) m, Freiwillige (de) f
- Hebrew: מתנדב m (mitnadev), מתנדבת f (mitnadevet)
- Irish: óglach m
- Japanese: 志願兵 (ja) (しがんへい, shiganhei), 義勇兵 (ぎゆうへい, giyūhei)
- Korean: 지원병(志願兵) (jiwonbyeong), 지원군(志願軍) (ko) (jiwon'gun), 의용병(義勇兵) (ko) (uiyongbyeong)
- Latvian: brīvprātīgais
- Maori: kaitūao
- Polish: ochotnik (pl) m
- Portuguese: voluntário (pt) m
- Romanian: voluntar (ro) m
- Russian: доброво́лец (ru) m (dobrovólec), доброво́лица (ru) f (dobrovólica), волонтёр (ru) m (volontjór), волонтёрка (ru) f (volontjórka) (this feminine form is colloquial)
- Scottish Gaelic: saor-thoileach m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: воло̀нте̄р m, доброво́љац m
- Roman: volòntēr (sh) m, dobrovóljac (sh) m
- Ukrainian: доброво́лець m (dobrovólecʹ), доброво́лиця f (dobrovólycja), волонте́р m (volontér), волонте́рка f (volontérka)
- Welsh: gwirfoddolwr m
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one who acts without legal obligation
Translations to be checked
Verb
volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)
- (intransitive) To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
- (transitive, intransitive) To do or offer to do something voluntarily.
to volunteer for doing the dishes
2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:Miranda: No good. Both routes are blocked. See these doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side.
Shepard: It's not a fortress; there's got to be something. Here, maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft.
Jacob: Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer.
Miranda: I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert.
- (transitive) To offer, usually unprompted.
to volunteer an explanation
- (transitive, informal) To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.
My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.
- (intransitive, botany) To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
Derived terms
Translations
to enlist oneself as a volunteer
to do or offer to do something voluntarily
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 自告奮勇/自告奋勇 (zh) (zìgàofènyǒng)
- Dutch: vrijwilligen (nl)
- Finnish: tehdä vapaaehtoisesti (to do), tarjoutua vapaaehtoiseksi (to offer to do)
- French: être bénévole, être volontaire
- German: anbieten (de), sich anbieten
- Hebrew: התנדב m (hitnadev), התנדבה f (hitnadva)
- Hungarian: vállalkozik (hu), vállal (hu), önkénteskedik, felajánl(ja a segítségét)
- Japanese: 志願する (ja) (しがんする, shigan-suru)
- Khmer: ស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត (smak cət)
- Lao: ສະໝັກ (sa mak), ສະຫມັກ (sa mak)
- Maori: tūao
- Polish: zgłosić się na ochotnika pf (do czegoś), zgłaszać się na ochotnika impf (do czegoś), zaoferować się pf (coś zrobić), oferować się impf (coś zrobić)
- Tibetan: དྭང་བླངས་བྱས (dwang blangs byas)
- Vietnamese: tình nguyện (vi)
- Welsh: gwirfoddoli (cy)
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to offer, usually unprompted
to offer the services of (someone else) to do something
botany: to grow without cultivation
References