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.

---

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

"We aimed to clarify the association of phase angle obtained from the leg using BIA with voluntary muscle strength, twitch contractile properties, and neuromuscular activity," says Assistant Prof. Hirata.

From Science Daily • Jan. 13, 2024

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

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

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

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

Thoughts are the result of the action of the brain; and the action of the brain may be controlled as well as the movements of a voluntary muscle.

From Plain Facts for Old and Young by Kellogg, John Harvey