volition
[voh-lish-uh n, vuh-]
- the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing: She left of her own volition.
- a choice or decision made by the will.
- the power of willing; will.
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Origin of volition
Synonyms
See more synonyms for volition on Thesaurus.com1. discretion, choice. See will2.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for volition
Contemporary Examples
When would those states have integrated of their own volition, because it was the right thing to do?
So women, you see, are not human beings with agency and volition about their sexuality in Huckabee Land.
No, she said, she had come to pray at the Kotel of her own volition, no one put her up to it.
Normally, dogs and cats and humans seem to be guided by some kind of volition – but of course that may be flattering ourselves.
But then you have the women who go into the trade of their volition.
Historical Examples
It seemed to have a vast inorganic life of its own, a volition and a whim.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
Volition is surely an act of the mind, with which we are sufficiently acquainted.
She opened the outer door, and Mattie had no volition but to go.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Miss Georgie did not often send that last word of her own volition.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
They talk about having faith, as if it could be done by an act of volition.
The Stark Munro LettersJ. Stark Munro
volition
- the act of exercising the willof one's own volition
- the faculty or capability of conscious choice, decision, and intention; the will
- the resulting choice or resolution
- philosophy an act of will as distinguished from the physical movement it intends to bring about
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Word Origin
C17: from Medieval Latin volitiō, from Latin vol- as in volō I will, present stem of velle to wish
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for volition
n.
1610s, from French volition (16c.), from Medieval Latin volitionem (nominative volitio) "will, volition," from Latin stem (as in volo "I wish") of velle "to wish," from PIE *wel-/*wol- "be pleasing" (see will (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
volition
(və-lĭsh′ən)- The act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision.
- A conscious choice or decision.
- The power or faculty of choosing; the will.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.