# volunteer

Pronunciation: say "vol-uhn-TEER" US /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/, UK /ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə/

## Noun

1. A person who freely offers to take on a task or service, often without pay.
   - Simple: A person who chooses to help or work without being paid or forced.
   - _During the flood, every available volunteer helped fill sandbags._
   - _The charity could not run without its dedicated volunteers._
5. A person who joins military service by choice rather than by conscription, though still bound by military discipline once enlisted.
   - Simple: A person who joins the army by choice, not because the law forces them to.
   - _The regiment was made up entirely of volunteers rather than draftees._
   - _As a volunteer, he could have stayed home but chose to serve._
7. A member of a country's organized militia who serves voluntarily, as distinct from a regular soldier in the standing army.
   - Simple: A person who serves in a country's part-time militia instead of the full-time army.
   - _The militia's volunteers mustered for drill twice a month._
   - _He served as a volunteer in the county militia for ten years._
8. In law, a person who acts of their own free will without any legal obligation to do so, such as the donor of a gift.
   - Simple: A person who does something by choice when the law does not require it, such as someone giving a gift.
   - _As a volunteer, she had no legal claim to repayment for the favor._
   - _The law offers little protection to volunteers who pay another's debt unasked._
9. A plant that grows on its own, without being deliberately sown or cultivated.
   - Simple: A plant that grows on its own, without anyone planting it.
   - _A tomato volunteer came up in the compost bed this spring._
   - _Farmers often pull the volunteers that sprout from the previous crop._
11. A native or resident of Tennessee, in the United States.
   - Simple: A person from the U.S. state of Tennessee.
   - _Every Volunteer he met spoke fondly of the Smoky Mountains._
   - _The festival drew Volunteers from every corner of the state._

## Verb

2. To offer to do something of your own free will.
   - Simple: To offer to do something because you want to, not because someone made you.
   - _He volunteered to stay late and finish the report._
   - _When help is needed, the neighbors always volunteer._
3. To enroll oneself for service, especially in the military, of one's own free will.
   - Simple: To join a group or the army by your own choice, not because you are forced.
   - _Many young men volunteered in the first weeks of the war._
   - _She decided to volunteer for the relief mission overseas._
4. To offer something, especially information, without being prompted.
   - Simple: To say or give something without being asked first.
   - _The witness volunteered several facts the detective hadn't requested._
   - _I would not volunteer that information unless they ask directly._
6. To offer someone else's services for a task, typically without their agreement. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To say that another person will do a job, often without asking them first.
   - _My manager volunteered the whole team for the weekend shift._
   - _They always volunteer the new hire for the worst assignments._
10. Of a plant, to grow without being deliberately sown or cultivated.
   - Simple: Of a plant, to grow on its own without anyone planting it.
   - _Potatoes left in the ground will volunteer the following season._
   - _Several squash plants volunteered where last year's pile had been._

## Origin

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius ("willing, voluntary"); alternatively it may come from voluntary plus the suffix -eer.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/volunteer (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).