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as in optional
subject to one's freedom of choice participation in the resort's recreational activities is strictly voluntary

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word voluntary different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of voluntary are deliberate, intentional, and willing. While all these words mean "done or brought about of one's own will," voluntary implies freedom and spontaneity of choice or action without external compulsion.

a voluntary confession

Where would deliberate be a reasonable alternative to voluntary?

While the synonyms deliberate and voluntary are close in meaning, deliberate implies full consciousness of the nature of one's act and its consequences.

deliberate acts of sabotage

When is it sensible to use intentional instead of voluntary?

Although the words intentional and voluntary have much in common, intentional stresses an awareness of an end to be achieved.

the intentional concealment of vital information

When could willing be used to replace voluntary?

The synonyms willing and voluntary are sometimes interchangeable, but willing implies a readiness and eagerness to accede to or anticipate the wishes of another.

willing obedience

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of voluntary The current system cannot even accommodate and appropriately treat individuals who pursue psychiatric hospitalization on a voluntary basis, much less those who will only be able to access care involuntarily. Stephen Eide, New York Daily News, 25 May 2025 One man received a sentence of 12 to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter, while another who confessed to firing the fatal shot received a sentence of just two years. Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 25 May 2025 Texas lawmakers have simultaneously advanced another religious measure allowing school districts to provide voluntary daily prayer time or religious text reading during school hours. Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 May 2025 Issues can be reported to the FDA via its online voluntary reporting form. Jasmine Browley, Allure, 22 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for voluntary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for voluntary
Adjective
  • Within the past couple of years, the group has become a part of Arrowhead Kingdom, an all-volunteer national network of Chiefs fan groups.
    Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2023
  • That’s noteworthy for a show based at a high-school auditorium in Litchfield and run by a staff that is almost entirely volunteer, including the show’s star and its producer.
    Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2022
Adjective
  • Place the basil leaves (and optional lemon zest) into a clean glass jar.
    Claudia Alarcón, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
  • Inside the cozy cockpit, leather, burl wood, and side curtains with sliding plastic windows take the driver back many decades to a time when radios were an optional nuisance—all that mattered was the vehicle and the road.
    Robert Ross, Robb Report, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • Alonso was conscious of this when speaking on Thursday in Spain.
    Luke Smith, New York Times, 31 May 2025
  • Yet their follow-up film, Bring Her Back, feels like a conscious swerve away from those roots.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 30 May 2025
Adjective
  • For now the Bears seem willing to let the noise continue into June.
    Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 23 May 2025
  • Too bad, but anyway plot and plausibility are far less important than the experiential qualities Resurrection offers those willing to accept its fairy tale-like pitch.
    Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • Cannes got its own cliff-hanger ending on Saturday, the final day of the 78th film festival, when a power outage, apparently caused by deliberate sabotage, shut down the power grid serving the city and much of the surrounding region.
    Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 24 May 2025
  • Even by the standards of France’s famously deliberate legal system, the case took years to reach trial.
    John Leicester, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2025
Adjective
  • The proposal has been controversial among lawmakers and advocates who say the state shouldn’t dip into that money for anything other than its intended purpose.
    Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 26 May 2025
  • Each project begins with a thorough technical and structural assessment of the cargo and its intended route.
    Umberto Cavallaro, Forbes.com, 22 May 2025
Adjective
  • But Dhillon said the Biden administration wrongly attributed disparities in the treatment of racial minorities with intentional discrimination.
    Bart Jansen, USA Today, 22 May 2025
  • Cultivate ‘Living Intelligence’ Through Curiosity This requires intentional practice in balancing the tension between predictability and possibility.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025
Adjective
  • Carnegie is convinced that sincerity is as easily willed as a ready smile and a memory for names.
    Ann Hulbert, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
  • The entire texture of that life, its willed imposture.
    Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Voluntary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/voluntary. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on voluntary

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