volunteer

Pluralvolunteers

Formsvolunteers, volunteering, volunteered

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A person who chooses to help or work without being paid or forced.

   Like someone who helps a neighbor move boxes just because they want to, not for money.

   The hospital relies on a volunteer to greet patients each morning.

   Several volunteers cleaned up the park on Saturday.

   Similarhelper

   Note
2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To offer to do something because you want to, not because someone made you.

   Like raising your hand to take a job before anyone asks you to.

   She volunteered to lead the cleanup after the storm.

   Every summer, the older kids volunteer at the food bank.

   Similaroffer

   Oppositerefuse, decline

   Note
3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To join a group or the army by your own choice, not because you are forced.

   Like signing yourself up for a team instead of waiting to be picked.

   Thousands volunteered when the fighting began.

   He chose to volunteer instead of waiting to be drafted.

   Similarenlist, enroll

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To say or give something without being asked first.

   Like answering a question that nobody actually asked you.

   She volunteered her opinion before anyone asked for it.

   He didn't volunteer any details about the accident.

   Similaroffer, provide, disclose, share

   Oppositewithhold

   Note
5. 5
   nouncountable

   A person who joins the army by choice, not because the law forces them to.

   Like joining a team because you want to, not because you were ordered to.

   Her grandfather was a volunteer in the last war.

   Many volunteers signed up before the draft began.

   Similarenlistee

   Oppositeconscript, draftee

   Note
6. 6
   verbcolloquialtransitive

   To say that another person will do a job, often without asking them first.

   Like telling the teacher your friend will clean the board, without asking your friend.

   She volunteered her brother to drive everyone home.

   Please don't volunteer me for jobs I don't want.

   Similarnominate

   Note
7. 7
   nouncountable

   A person who serves in a country's part-time militia instead of the full-time army.

   Like a town fire crew that trains in their spare time instead of full-time firefighters.

   Each volunteer trained on weekends with the local militia.

   The town's volunteers turned out when the alarm sounded.

   Similarmilitiaman

   Oppositeregular

   Note
8. 8
   nouncountable

   A person who does something by choice when the law does not require it, such as someone giving a gift.

   Like paying a stranger's bill when no one asked you: you can't get the money back.

   The court treated him as a volunteer because no contract required his help.

   Volunteers who give gifts cannot later demand payment for them.

   Note
9. 9
   nouncountable

   A plant that grows on its own, without anyone planting it.

   Like a flower that pops up in your yard even though no one planted it.

   A volunteer sprouted in the garden from last year's seeds.

   We left a few volunteers to grow among the rows.

   Note
10. 10
    verbintransitive

    Of a plant, to grow on its own without anyone planting it.

    Like seeds that fall and grow into new plants all by themselves.

    Tomatoes often volunteer in old compost piles.

    A few sunflowers volunteered along the back fence.

    Note
11. 11
    nouncountable

    A person from the U.S. state of Tennessee.

    As a Volunteer, she grew up just outside Nashville.

    Many Volunteers cheer loudly for their home teams.

    SimilarTennessean

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