Standard Lemma guide

voluntarily

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.

  • General-American: /ˌvɑlənˈtɛɹɪli/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌvɒlənˈtɛɹɪli/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈvɒləntɹɪli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: V AA2 L AH0 N T EH1 R AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a voluntary manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

out of your own free will

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he voluntarily submitted to the fingerprinting

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: involuntarily

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English voluntary Middle English -ly English -ly English voluntarily From voluntary + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

35 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ինքնակամ (inkʻnakam) — in a voluntary manner
  • Catalan: voluntàriament — in a voluntary manner
  • Chinese Mandarin: 自願 /自愿 (zìyuàn) — in a voluntary manner
  • Czech: dobrovolně — in a voluntary manner
  • Dutch: vrijwillig — in a voluntary manner
  • Esperanto: propravole — in a voluntary manner
  • Esperanto: memvole — in a voluntary manner
  • Esperanto: volonte — in a voluntary manner
  • Esperanto: vole — in a voluntary manner
  • Estonian: vabatahtlikult — in a voluntary manner
  • Finnish: vapaaehtoisesti — in a voluntary manner
  • French: volontairement — in a voluntary manner
  • French: bénévolement — in a voluntary manner
  • Galician: voluntariamente — in a voluntary manner
  • German: freiwillig — in a voluntary manner
  • Greek: εθελοντικά (ethelontiká) — in a voluntary manner
  • Greek: εκουσίως (ekousíos) — in a voluntary manner
  • Ancient Greek: ἑκουσίως (hekousíōs) — in a voluntary manner
  • Hungarian: önként — in a voluntary manner
  • Hungarian: önkéntesen — in a voluntary manner
  • Hungarian: akaratlagosan — in a voluntary manner
  • Italian: volontariamente — in a voluntary manner
  • Japanese: 自発的に (jihatsuteki ni) — in a voluntary manner
  • Japanese: 自主的に (jishutekini) — in a voluntary manner
  • Occitan: volontàriament — in a voluntary manner
  • Polish: dobrowolnie — in a voluntary manner
  • Polish: ochotniczo — in a voluntary manner
  • Polish: niewymuszenie — in a voluntary manner
  • Polish: nieprzymuszenie — in a voluntary manner
  • Portuguese: voluntariamente — in a voluntary manner
  • Romanian: voluntar — in a voluntary manner
  • Romanian: voit — in a voluntary manner
  • Russian: доброво́льно (dobrovólʹno) — in a voluntary manner
  • Spanish: voluntariamente — in a voluntary manner
  • Ukrainian: доброві́льно (dobrovílʹno) — in a voluntary manner
Real reading context

voluntarily in complete knowledge articles