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

It causes the loss of cells which control voluntary muscle movements and, eventually, patients lose their ability to speak, eat, walk and breathe independently.

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026

SMA is a genetic disease that disrupts the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movement.

From Science Daily • Dec. 7, 2023

Scientists who subscribed to the active muscle contractions theory believed that when cats purr in response to being comfortable or, conversely, to feeling stressed, they do so as a voluntary muscle contraction.

From Salon • Nov. 3, 2023

The ad is narrated by Steve Gleason, a former prof football player who is living with ALS, a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 3, 2014

There is an annual curve in voluntary muscle strength.

From Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism by Ellis, Havelock