Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use voluntary in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun

Voluntary means done, given, or acting of one's own free will. Example: “If a man accidentally kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.”

Examples of voluntary by meaning

adjectiveDone by design or intention; intentional.

  • If a man accidentally kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.

adjectiveWorking or done without payment.

  • Wikimedia is a voluntary service.

adjectiveOf or relating to voluntarism.

  • a voluntary church, in distinction from an established or state church

More sentences with voluntary

  • There is a demand for voluntary health workers in the poorer parts of Africa and Asia.From the entry demand
  • I knew my business was on the rocks, so I started considering going into voluntary bankruptcy.From the entry on the rocks
  • Voluntary nonparticipation in the work force is a growing problem in some developed countries.From the entry nonparticipation
  • Luis got arrested for voluntary manslaughter when he fatally struck Jimmy in a barfight.From the entry voluntary manslaughter
  • The company went into voluntary administration last week.From the entry administration
  • This was a voluntary charter flight, not an ICE enforcement operation.2025 May 19, “Project Homecoming Charter Flight Brings Self-Deporters to Honduras, Colombia”, in Department of Homeland Security. From the entry one day
  • That isn't to say there aren't “knobends” in the voluntary sector – there are plenty of them.2019, Jen Wight, Rattled: Overcoming Postpartum Psychosis. From the entry knobend
  • They also run classes, pizza nights, and welcome WOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) voluntary apprentices.2016, Chris Young, Slow Dough: Real Bread. From the entry woof
  • One thing that works is voluntary preorientation programs that help students acclimate to college.2015 September 12, Anthony Abraham Jack, “What the Privileged Poor Can Teach Us”, in New York Times. From the entry preorientation
  • Responsibilisation also promotes greater citizen involvement in community-based voluntary security initiatives like Neighbourhood Watch schemes.2006, Alan Bryden, Marina Caparini, Private Actors and Security Governance, →ISBN, page 266. From the entry responsibilisation
  • Or do some voluntary work, if she doesn’t need the money.2004, Miranda Lee, Bedded by the Boss, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 84. From the entry wifery
  • On the CBOT, ringing out was voluntary, while on the New York Cotton Exchange, it was compulsory.2003, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, volume 5, page 388. From the entry ring out
  • It recognizes charity and communal enterprises as voluntary versions of this same ethic.1969 March, Karl Hess, “The Death of Politics”, in Playboy. From the entry anarcho-capitalism
  • Trustees of the University of North Carolina today accepted the voluntary retirements of Dr.1934 June 5, “Brooks And Foust Resign As U. N. C. Vice-Presidents: […]”, in The Daily Times-News, volume 46, number 83, Burlington, N.C.…. From the entry emeritus
  • While some koinons were formed by a military takeover by a dominant community, most were voluntary associations between geographically contiguous communities.2020, Robert Inman, Daniel L. Rubinfeld, “Cooperative Federalism”, in Democratic Federalism: The Economics, Politics, and Law of Federal…. From the entry koinon
  • Similarly, a small and voluntary death was died by Socrates.2019, Lou Marinoff, On Human Conflict: The Philosophical Foundations of War and Peace, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 452. From the entry die
  • If it is voluntary with mutual benefit but not asymmetrical or damaging to either consorte, it is mutualism. 2.2017, V.K. Agarwal, Zoology for Degree Students, →ISBN. From the entry consorte
  • For those of you looking to escape into international waters, there’s always seasteading to consider — modular, autonomous, voluntary city-states.2014 June 12, George Dvorsky, “12 Futuristic Forms of Government That Could One Day Rule the World”, in Gizmodo. From the entry city-state
  • The voluntary prisoner in search of "three hots and a cot" is a persistent figure in American popular culture.2009 May 10, David Streitfeld, “The Recession Made Them Do It”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Oct 2022. From the entry three hots and a cot
  • For nonprofit and voluntary organizations, these issues do not arise.2003, “Nonprofit Organizations”, in Karen Christensen, David Levinson, editors, Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual…. From the entry coin of the realm
  • Voluntary contributions could pick up the slack.1998, K. Filip Palda, Home on the Urban Range: An Idea Map for Reforming the City. From the entry pick up the slack
  • Marriage, pregnancy, and motherhood, however, are grounds for compulsory nonconscription for women while religious conviction is grounds for voluntary nonconscription.1993, Leonore Loeb Adler, International handbook on gender roles, page 151. From the entry nonconscription
  • Voluntary thrift, embodied in industrial insurance, nurtured character, but social insurance was merely a glorified form of poor law legislation.1986, Roy Lubove, The Struggle for Social Security, 1900-1935. From the entry glorified
  • So the workers resolved to give up a Monday to voluntary labour to scatter rubbish all over it.1979, Aleksandr Zinoviev, The Yawning Heights. From the entry wasteground
  • These voluntary quotas could be circumvented by diverting exported steel through countries which have not entered into the limitation plan.1969 September 30, Congressional Record, page 27713. From the entry nonagreeable
  • Among wholesalers, voluntary and cooperatives carry a far wider range and number of items in private brands than do unaffiliateds.1968, Progressive Grocer's Marketing Guidebook, page 13. From the entry wholesaler
  • This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […]…. From the entry absent
  • In other cases, such running powers have been granted without recourse to Parliament, by voluntary agreement between the parties.1940 May, “The Why and the Wherefore: Running Powers”, in Railway Magazine, page 318. From the entry afford
  • Those that are authorative and of the government, mandatory; the others in part or altogether voluntary are more directory than mandatory.1902, The State of Corrections: Proceedings, ACA Annual Conferences. From the entry wieldsome
  • Chinese authorities continue to deny the abuse of Uighurs and other minorities, asserting that the camps are actually voluntary reeducation programs against extremism.2020 August 7, Sophie Stuber, “Video of Uighur handcuffed to bed in quarantine centre refocuses attention on Chinese persecution”, in…. From the entry Uighur
  • The empowerment team kept emphasizing that this is the first voluntary team of this kind in the country and therefore spur their sense of honor.2018, Chaohsing Huang, Chipang Lu, Yishan Chen, “Involving Community Volunteers in Recording Deterioration of Buildings After Disaster”…. From the entry Zuojhen
  • Commensalism is a voluntary asymmetrical consortism in which one organism is benefited with no appreciable benefit or damage to the partner. 3.2017, V.K. Agarwal, Zoology for Degree Students, →ISBN. From the entry consorte
  • Unlike AAUs, they are not allocated by a state but rather are generated through voluntary activities undertaken most commonly by private actors.2014, John G Sprankling, “Rights in Airspace and Outer Space”, in The International Law of Property, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page…. From the entry AAU
  • Both bank associations govern the respective statutory deposit funds and the voluntary deposit funds, but statutory and voluntary funds are kept legally separate.2014, F. Arnaboldi, Deposit Guarantee Schemes: A European Perspective. From the entry statutory deposit
  • Freedom and free markets have worked pretty well in lifting people out of poverty, creating strong middle-class societies, and supporting great voluntary and charitable institutions.2012 August 29, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Noam Neusner, “Mitt Romney, the Tikkun Olam President?”, in The Atlantic. From the entry tikkun olam
  • No voluntary autofail of Morale checks!2012 July 2, Playa, “[40k] [v6] First Impressions”, in rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (Usenet). From the entry autofail
  • Lottery Corporation commissioned two independent studies that found its voluntary self-exclusion program isn't always catching gamblers who've requested help in staying away.2011 August 18, “Problem gambler crackdown coming to B.C. casinos”, in CBC News. From the entry catch

Meaning of voluntary

  1. adjective Done, given, or acting of one's own free will.
  2. adjective Done by design or intention; intentional.
  3. adjective Working or done without payment.

Full definition of voluntary

Questions about voluntary in a sentence

How do you use voluntary in a sentence?
Voluntary is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “If a man accidentally kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.”
What is a short sentence with voluntary?
“Wikimedia is a voluntary service.”
What does voluntary mean?
Voluntary means done, given, or acting of one's own free will.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: voluntary (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use voluntary in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/voluntary. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.