free will

American  

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.

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free will British  

noun

1. 1. the apparent human ability to make choices that are not externally determined

   2. the doctrine that such human freedom of choice is not illusory Compare determinism

   3. ( as modifier )

      a free-will decision

2. the ability to make a choice without coercion

   he left of his own free will: I did not influence him

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free will Cultural  

1. 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.)

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Example Sentences

Richardson said: "There's no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can."

From BBC • May 28, 2026

Artie is the type of person who asks people whether they believe in free will and hopes for genuine answers.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

Medically assisted dying is allowed in Germany under certain conditions, the outlet said, for people who are legally capable and acting of their own free will.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025

"But if she doesn't, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn't cause a problem for me."

From Barron's • Nov. 1, 2025

I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë