Standard Lemma guide

involuntarily

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪnˈvɒləntɹɪli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American, dialectal: /ɪnˌvɑlənˈtɛɹɪli/ of Canada
  • Canada, dialectal: /ɪnˈvɒlənˌtɛɹɪli/ of the US
  • Australian: /ɪnˈvɔləntɹɪli/
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N V OW0 L AH1 N T ER0 IH2 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: IH2 N V AA2 L AH0 N T ER1 AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In an involuntary manner; done without conscious thought.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Her leg twitched involuntarily.
  • He involuntarily overheard the conversation.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

against your will

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he was involuntarily held against his will

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: voluntarily

History

Etymology

From involuntary + -ly or in- + voluntarily.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ակամա (akama) — in an involuntary manner
  • Catalan: involuntàriament — in an involuntary manner
  • Dutch: onwillekeurig — in an involuntary manner
  • Esperanto: nevole — in an involuntary manner
  • Finnish: vastoin tahtoaan — in an involuntary manner
  • Finnish: vastentahtoisesti — in an involuntary manner
  • Finnish: tahattomasti — in an involuntary manner
  • Finnish: tahtomattaan — in an involuntary manner
  • French: involontairement — in an involuntary manner
  • French: sans le faire exprès — in an involuntary manner
  • Galician: involuntariamente — in an involuntary manner
  • Georgian: უნებლიეთ (unebliet) — in an involuntary manner
  • German: unwillkürlich — in an involuntary manner
  • German: unabsichtlich — in an involuntary manner
  • Ancient Greek: ἀκουσίως (akousíōs) — in an involuntary manner
  • Hungarian: önkéntelenül — in an involuntary manner
  • Hungarian: akaratlanul — in an involuntary manner
  • Italian: involontariamente — in an involuntary manner
  • Polish: niechcący — in an involuntary manner
  • Polish: mimowolnie — in an involuntary manner
  • Polish: machinalnie — in an involuntary manner
  • Portuguese: involuntariamente — in an involuntary manner
  • Romanian: involuntar — in an involuntary manner
  • Russian: нево́льно (nevólʹno) — in an involuntary manner
  • Spanish: involuntariamente — in an involuntary manner