Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

volunteer

/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.28 in modern English

Syllables: vol-un-teer
IPA: /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/

12

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.

noun

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.

noun

A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.

noun

A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.

noun

A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.

noun

A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

verb

To enlist oneself as a volunteer.

Intransitive verb

verb

To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

Example Sentences

"The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep."
"The largest age group for volunteers was 35-44, the CNCS survey said, and volunteers were most likely to be parents with children under 18. The typical volunteer may live in Utah, which ranked first in the percentage of people who said they volunteered among all 50 states and Washington, DC."
"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[…]"
"to volunteer for doing the dishes"
"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."
"The typical volunteer may live in Utah, which ranked first in the percentage of people who said they volunteered among all 50 states and Washington, DC. […] The median amount of time per year spent volunteering was 52 hours."

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: *welh₁-, voluntārius

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/
British English: /ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə/

Usage

Inflected Forms

volunteers (plural) volunteers (present, singular) volunteering (participle, present) volunteered (participle, past) volunteered (past)

Derived Forms

climateer planeteer vollie volunpeer volunteerism volunteerist volunteeristic volunteerly volunteership voluntourism voluntourist Voluntown

Phrases

army volunteer eco-volunteer volunteer snooker I volunteer as tribute

Frequently Paired Words

voluntarism voluntarist

Synonyms

unpaid tennessean unpaid worker military volunteer voluntary offer

Rhymes With

year near clear career fear appear dear beer premier severe engineer gear

Questions

How do you pronounce volunteer?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/.
What does volunteer mean?: One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
Where does volunteer come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce volunteer

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “volunteer”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “volunteer”.
Repeat and practice — Say “volunteer” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.