voluntaries
- 1Plural of voluntary.
The recital closed with a pair of stirring voluntaries on the cathedral organ.
She arranged the hymns and voluntaries for the entire choral season.
Note
A regular plural: the final -y after a consonant becomes -ies, as melody becomes melodies. Only the noun takes it, because the adjective voluntary (done of one's own free will) has no plural. So voluntaries always means several things or people: short solo pieces of music, often improvised; volunteers; or supporters of voluntarism. Context decides which, and next to hymns or an organ it is the music.
voluntaries is a form of voluntary
voluntary, noun: A brief musical piece for one instrument, frequently improvised in part. Full entry
- Forms
- voluntaryvoluntaries plural
- Spelling
- voluntary → voluntaries: change y to i, add -es
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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