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).

---

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

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of volunteer

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

---

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

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

For Dianne Blais, standing for Congress as a Green Party candidate is not about winning but about continuing her work as a volunteer that ranges from serving in school positions to fostering children.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

Lisa Sabatine, 67, was involved with Platner’s campaign from the outset as a volunteer coordinator and is now organizing and canvassing with another group, People Power Maine.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

“Except for the air assets, the fact that everyone else is a volunteer is awesome. It truly exemplifies the adage ‘Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.’”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

“I, uh, get a volunteer to lie down on the board like so. Okay. This is the important part. Their center of gravity has to be directly over one of the chairs. This one.”

From "Shine!" by J.J. and Chris Grabenstein

But after nearly three years of war, it had almost no volunteers or contract soldiers left.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The effort comes as civil rights groups pursue their own election-protection initiatives, including Vote Safe, which has begun deploying trained community volunteers to polling locations in several battleground states.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

To better understand the relationship between aging and autophagy, the researchers collected blood and skin samples from volunteers between the ages of 23 and 72.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

During an excavation last month, archaeologists and volunteers uncovered an 18th Century culvert that appeared to have been partly made using stone from the torn down monastery.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

Two seasons had passed since President Wilson asked for volunteers.

From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield

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

She studied biology in college and volunteered in health clinics before changing course and attending law school.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Brentford Community Boathouse events officer Kelly Everden, who volunteered on a clean-up operation organised by Keane, said the children who used the canal were worst affected.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

“So you volunteered to run in the middle of the night into a soldiers’ camp?”

From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Gate agents now start making announcements earlier when a flight is oversold, including explaining why and mentioning compensation options right away for volunteering to take a later flight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

She took some classes, traveled with friends and eventually began volunteering.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

"There are opportunities for people to get involved in monitoring, in volunteering, just learning about the landscape in general," said Wheldon-Roberts.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

Kathy became a certified personal trainer and began volunteering.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• come forward
• enlist
• sign up
• step forward
• suggest

---