volunteer

American  

[vol-uhn-teer] / ˌvɒl ənˈtɪər /

noun

• volunteers
  plural

1. a person who voluntarily offers to perform a service or other undertaking.

2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.

3. Military. a person who enters the service voluntarily rather than through conscription or draft, especially for special or temporary service rather than as a member of the regular or permanent army.

4. Law.

   1. a person whose actions are not founded on any legal obligation so to act.

   2. a person who steps into a matter that does not concern them, such as a person who pays the debt of another where they are neither legally nor morally bound to do so and has no interest to protect in making the payment.

5. Agriculture. Also volunteer plant a plant that springs up spontaneously, without being seeded, planted, or cultivated by a person.

   We didn't plant any watermelons this year, but look at all the volunteers from last year's crop.

6. Volunteer. a native or inhabitant of Tennessee (used as a nickname).

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or being a person who voluntarily offers to do something.

   a volunteer fireman.

2. Agriculture. growing without being seeded, planted, or cultivated by a person; springing up spontaneously.

   volunteer tomatoes.

verb (used without object)

• volunteers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• volunteered,
  past participle,  past
• volunteering
  present participle

1. to offer oneself for some service or undertaking.

2. to enter service or enlist voluntarily.

verb (used with object)

• volunteers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• volunteered,
  past participle,  past
• volunteering
  present participle

1. to offer (oneself or one's services) for some undertaking or purpose.

2. to give, bestow, or perform voluntarily.

   to volunteer a song.

3. to say, tell, or communicate voluntarily.

   to volunteer an explanation.

4. to promise the services of (someone) without having asked if it is something they actually can or want to do.

   He volunteered me to sand and paint the bottom of the boat, and I don’t have the slightest interest in sanding, painting, or boating.

volunteer British  

/ ˌvɒlənˈtɪə /

noun

1. 1. a person who performs or offers to perform voluntary service

   2. ( as modifier )

      a volunteer system

      volunteer advice

2. a person who freely undertakes military service, esp temporary or special service

3. law

   1. a person who does some act or enters into a transaction without being under any legal obligation to do so and without being promised any remuneration for his services

   2. property law a person to whom property is transferred without his giving any valuable consideration in return, as a legatee under a will

4. 1. a plant that grows from seed that has not been deliberately sown

   2. ( as modifier )

      a volunteer plant

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verb

1. to offer (oneself or one's services) for an undertaking by choice and without request or obligation

2. (tr) to perform, give, or communicate voluntarily

   to volunteer help

   to volunteer a speech

3. (intr) to enlist voluntarily for military service

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prevolunteer
  noun
• unvolunteering
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• volunteers
  plural

Participles

• volunteering
  present
• volunteered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• volunteer
  simple
• volunteers
  simple
• have volunteered
  perfect
• has volunteered
  perfect
• am volunteering
  progressive
• are volunteering
  progressive
• is volunteering
  progressive
• have been volunteering
  perfect progressive
• has been volunteering
  perfect progressive

Past

• volunteered
  simple
• had volunteered
  perfect
• was volunteering
  progressive
• were volunteering
  progressive
• had been volunteering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will volunteer
  simple
• will have volunteered
  perfect
• will be volunteering
  progressive
• will have been volunteering
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of volunteer

First recorded in 1590–1600; from French volontaire, from Latin voluntārius voluntary, with -eer for French -aire

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Explanation

To volunteer means to freely offer up your time and service to help. So a volunteer might offer to water a neighbor's plants while he's on vacation or sign up to serve dinner at a local homeless shelter. When it came into usage circa 1600, the noun volunteer referred to a person who offered himself up for military service. It wasn't until a few decades later that the word was first used in a non-military sense. And a little over a hundred years after that, volunteer expanded from functioning as just a noun to also playing the role of verb. A volunteer is someone who volunteers: willingly performs a task or offers a service.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

volunteer volunteers volunteered volunteering

She wants to travel, volunteer at the library and be around the grandkids while we’re both healthy.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

She’s also infamously bubbly: When a canvasser door-knocked 9th Circuit Judge Richard Paez, for whom Roy had clerked, he reportedly asked the volunteer to give her a hug.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

The Mahatir Mohammad Zain Foundation, a disaster relief NGO, said the 51-year-old volunteer passed away after falling ill with chest tightness while helping fight a fire in the Barito Kuala Regency.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

They get a sense of how you work and volunteer to send emails for you, check off items on project management software, and help your digital organization.

From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026

Trailing the procession as it set out were four ambulances and ten volunteer doctors and nurses who had flown in from New York the night before.

From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman

The Fly&Vote operation includes around 20 full-time staff and more than 50 volunteers who coordinate with airlines and travel agencies and organized half a dozen flights to bring voters back.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

Darren Harper is the Belfast area commander for the Community Rescue Service, whose volunteers are preparing to respond to emergencies.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

His death was "a reminder of the risks volunteers face in handling forest and land fires", said the foundation.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

The branch covered counties Fermanagh and Tyrone, with volunteers making lengthy journeys for shifts, and they they said volunteers are conscious that the distance between other branches in Northern Ireland may be unattainable.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Me and the vet techs and the volunteers.

From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers

"One of them showed symptoms seven days after arriving and was admitted to the Ebola treatment centre," said Bakikula, who volunteered to work at the facility after surviving Ebola herself.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026

Gonzales-Torres, 31, previously worked as a part-time counselor for formerly incarcerated Pasadena City College students, interned in Mayor Karen Bass’s administration and volunteered on the Metro Public Safety Advisory Committee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Gehlen, who was sponsored by the Americans, volunteered a trove of intelligence on the Soviet Union amassed under the Nazis and went on to recruit members of the SS and the Gestapo who evaded denazification.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

Way back in the Bush II and Obama years, I volunteered at my college radio station in the Music Procurement Department or whatever it was called.

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

Russ Canan, an attorney with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee in Atlanta, had volunteered to represent Evans.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

To all the moms and dads volunteering, you’re the unsung heroes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Life is not one big vacation, so there are many ways you can fill your time — volunteering, playing golf or tennis, etc.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026

Raising your hand for middle management right now feels like volunteering to be laid off the next time your employer decides to become more “nimble.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

The partnership hopes that in the future, Big Heart will also offer volunteering programmes, training and development opportunities.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

And now opportunity was the word the social worker was using when he informed the boy that he had arranged for him to spend the summer volunteering at Shady Glen Retirement Home.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

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Related Words

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