spontaneous
/spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.71 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse.
adj
Controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things.
adj
Produced without being planted or without human cultivation or labor.
Example Sentences
- "He made a spontaneous offer of help."
- "Lady Bertram agreed to it all with a calm “Yes”; and at the end of a quarter of an hour’s silent consideration spontaneously observed, “Sir Thomas, I have been thinking—and I am very glad we took Fanny as we did, for now the others are away we feel the good of it.”"
- "YSL, as he is often called, is equally capable of casual, aristocratic cruelty and earthy, spontaneous tenderness, and when you study his face it can be hard to distinguish boredom from rapture."
- "He persisted in his design; and, because he would not make his wants known, actually subsisted for several days on hips, haws and sloes, and other spontaneous fruits which he gathered in the woods and fields."
- "He made spontaneous remarks in the court, after being asked an unexpected question."
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin sponte Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Proto-Indo-European *-éyos Proto-Italic *-ejos Proto-Italic *-eos Latin -eus Latin -āneus Late Latin spontāneuslbor. English spontaneous Learned borrowing from Late Latin spontāneus.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs/
- British English: /spɒnˈteɪ.ni.əs/
Inflected Forms
more spontaneous (comparative)
most spontaneous (superlative)