freewill

[ free-wil ]

adjective
  1. made or done freely or of one's own accord; voluntary: a freewill contribution to a political fund.

  2. of or relating to the metaphysical doctrine of the freedom of the will: the freewill controversy.

Origin of freewill

1
First recorded in 1525–35; free + will2

Words Nearby freewill

Other definitions for free will (2 of 2)

free will

noun
  1. free and independent choice; voluntary decision: You took on the responsibility of your own free will.

  2. Philosophy. the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use freewill in a sentence

  • She had never taken a dose of medicine in her life, and never would, of her own freewill.

    Ernest Linwood | Caroline Lee Hentz
  • This ability to switch on or off constitutes our measure of freewill, our power of saying yes or no.

    Spirit and Music | H. Ernest Hunt
  • They are poor and have to beg, but they receive freewill offerings from the nomads living in the neighbourhood.

  • Besides this, they were required to bring a freewill offering to God, every time they went up to the three great yearly festivals.

    A Treatise on Domestic Economy | Catherine Esther Beecher
  • And he was like one that slideth down a hill and can arrest his descent with a foot, yet faileth that freewill.

British Dictionary definitions for free will

free will

noun
    • the apparent human ability to make choices that are not externally determined

    • the doctrine that such human freedom of choice is not illusory: Compare determinism (def. 1)

    • (as modifier): a free-will decision

  1. the ability to make a choice without coercion: he left of his own free will: I did not influence him

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for free will

free will

The ability to choose, think, and act voluntarily. For many philosophers, to believe in free will is to believe that human beings can be the authors of their own actions and to reject the idea that human actions are determined by external conditions or fate. (See determinism, fatalism, and predestination.)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.