voluntary muscle

American  

noun

Anatomy.

1. muscle whose action is normally controlled by an individual's will; mainly skeletal muscle, composed of parallel bundles of striated, multinucleate fibers.

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Usage

What are voluntary muscles? A voluntary muscle is a muscle that you choose to move, like those in the arms and legs, as opposed to the ones that move automatically, like the heart. Muscle is the tissue in animals that produces movement or motion. Voluntary means done out of free will or by choice. Voluntary muscles are also often called skeletal muscles (because all of the muscles attached to the skeleton are voluntary muscles) or striated muscles (because the muscle fibers make them look striated, or stripy). Example: Around 40 percent of a human’s body mass is made up of voluntary muscles.

Etymology

Origin of voluntary muscle

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

As the disease progresses, the nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movement die.

From Science Daily • Feb. 8, 2024

Because it can be controlled by thought, skeletal muscle is also called voluntary muscle.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

ALS, which stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosisis, is a progressive, degenerative disease that destroys the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movement.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 16, 2021

All the treatment will be free, but to be eligible patients must have no feeling or voluntary muscle function below the injury and they must be prepared to spend around three years in Poland.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2016

The work lacks also, in this first edition, a statement and discussion of the important all-or-none principle which is now applicable to voluntary muscle, probably, and to the neurones.

From The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Volume 10 by Various