Voluntarily

How to spell voluntarily

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce voluntarily

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does voluntarily mean?

1. adverbOf one's own free will, without being forced or required.

Voluntarily in a sentence

• She voluntarily handed in her notice before the merger was announced.

• The staff voluntarily agreed to take a temporary pay cut to save jobs.

Where does voluntarily come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin voluntas, meaning 'will' or 'free choice', which itself grew from the verb velle, 'to wish' or 'to want'. From voluntas Latin formed voluntarius, describing something done of one's own free will, and English borrowed the adjective 'voluntary' through Old French during the 1300s. The adverb 'voluntarily' was then built on top by adding the native English ending -ly, layering suffix upon suffix until the word stacked up its tricky middle. That pile of weakly stressed syllables in the middle, the -ar- and -i- that both blur into a faint schwa, is exactly why writers reach for the blank and forget whether it is -arily, -airily, or -erily. The same voluntas root survives in 'volunteer' and 'benevolent', a useful reminder that the heart of the word is free choice, not obligation.

How the word is built

• volunt- (from Latin voluntas: will, free choice)
• -ary (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)