volunteer
Syllables: vol·un·teerUK/ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə//ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/
volunteer noun: one who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
Noun
volunteer (plural volunteers)
- One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
- 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.2018 July 19, Thom Patterson, “Stats reveal how many Americans volunteer and where”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 May 2025
- 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.
- A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.
- 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[…]2007 April 30, Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 16
- A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
- A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
- A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.
Verb
volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)
- To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
- To do or offer to do something voluntarily.
- 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...2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2
- To offer, usually unprompted.
- to volunteer an explanation
- To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.
- My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.
- To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.
volunteer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
volunteer in Hindi
- one who voluntarily offers themselves for service
- स्वयंसेवक svayansevak, वालंटियर vālaṇṭiyar
volunteer in Tamil
- தன்னார்வலர், தன்னார்வத் தொண்டர், தொண்டூழியர், ஆர்வலர், தொண்டர், செயல்வீரர்
volunteer in Marathi
- स्वयंसेवक, स्वयंसेवी, स्वयंसेविका
volunteer in Urdu
- one who voluntarily offers themselves for service
- رَضا کار razā kār, والَنْٹِیَر vālanṭiyar
More languagesFewer languages
- volunteer in Bengali
- স্বেচ্ছাসেবক, স্বেচ্ছাসৈনিক, স্বেচ্ছাকর্মী, স্বেচ্ছাসেবী
- volunteer in Telugu
- స్వచ్ఛంద సేవకుడు
- volunteer in Malayalam
- സന്നദ്ധപ്രവർത്തകർ sannaddhapravaṟttakaṟ
- volunteer in Kannada
- ತನ್ನೊಲವಿಗ, ಸ್ವಯಂಸೇವಕ, ಪ್ರತಿಫಲಾಪೇಕ್ಷೆಯಿಲ್ಲದೆ ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡುವ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ, ಸ್ವ ಇಚ್ಛೆಯಿಂದ ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡು
- volunteer in Punjabi
- ਸਵੈ-ਸੇਵਕ, ਸਵੈ-ਸੇਵੀ
- volunteer in Gujarati
- સ્વયંસેવક
- volunteer in Odia
- ସ୍ୱେଚ୍ଛାସେବୀ
- volunteer in Nepali
- स्वयंसेवक, स्वयंसेवी, स्वयम्सेविका
- volunteer in Arabic
- مُتَطَوِّع mutaṭawwiʕ, مُتَطَوِّعَة mutaṭawwiʕa
- volunteer in Malay
- sukarelawan, volenter
- volunteer in Indonesian
- sukarelawan, sukarelawati, pekerja sukarela
- volunteer in Persian
- داوْطَلَب dâvtalab
- volunteer in Thai
- อาสาสมัคร aa-sǎa-sà-màk
- volunteer in Vietnamese
- quân tình nguyện, tình nguyện viên, người tình nguyện, thiện nguyện viên
- volunteer in Myanmar
- စေတနာ့ဝန်ထမ်း ceta.na.wanhtam:
Examples of volunteer in a sentence
- Why most of us volunteer is that we need some fresh air.
- Three volunteers put up their hands in response to the speaker's request.
- He made an appeal for volunteers to help at the festival.
Forms of volunteer
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | volunteers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | volunteers |
| present participle | volunteering |
| past participle | volunteered |
| past | volunteered |
Origin of volunteer
Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary + -eer.
Words formed from volunteer
Phrases with volunteer
Words that rhyme with volunteer
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- spear
- career
- fear
- here
- steer
- appear
- cavalier
- cheer
- leer
- pioneer
- queer
- adhere
- beer
- chandelier
- deer
- financier
- pier
- premier
- privateer
- sheer
- veer
- vizier
- austere
- bombardier
- brigadier
- cashmere
- commandeer
- disappear
- endear
- grenadier
- interfere
- mere
- mountaineer
- peer
- sear
- tear
- tier
- unclear
- arrear
- bier
- blear
- cameleer
- cashier
- chiffonier
- cohere
- fakir
- farseer
- frontier
Questions about volunteer
- What does volunteer mean?
- Volunteer means one who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
- What is volunteer in Hindi?
- Volunteer in Hindi is स्वयंसेवक (svayansevak), वालंटियर (vālaṇṭiyar). See Volunteer meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is volunteer?
- Volunteer can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce volunteer?
- Volunteer is pronounced /ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of volunteer?
- The plural of volunteer is volunteers.
Words near volunteer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: volunteer (page history and authors); volunteer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); volunteer (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); volunteer (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); volunteer (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); സന്നദ്ധപ്രവർത്തകർ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); volunteer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); volunteer (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); volunteer (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); volunteer (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); volunteer (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-volunteer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “volunteer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/volunteer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.