| Library / English Dictionary |
VOLUNTEER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A native or resident of Tennessee
Synonyms:
Tennessean; Volunteer
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("Volunteer" is a kind of...):
American (a native or inhabitant of the United States)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person who performs voluntary work
Synonyms:
unpaid worker; volunteer
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("volunteer" is a kind of...):
worker (a person who works at a specific occupation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "volunteer"):
candy striper (a volunteer worker in a hospital)
pledge taker (a volunteer who records (usually by telephone) contributions pledged in a fund drive)
vigilance man; vigilante (member of a vigilance committee)
Derivation:
volunteer (do volunteer work)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(military) a person who freely enlists for service
Synonyms:
military volunteer; voluntary; volunteer
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("volunteer" is a kind of...):
man; military man; military personnel; serviceman (someone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force)
Domain category:
armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)
Antonym:
draftee (someone who is drafted into military service)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without payment
Example:
a volunteer fire department
Synonyms:
unpaid; volunteer
Classified under:
Similar:
voluntary (of your own free will or design; done by choice; not forced or compelled)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they volunteer ... he / she / it volunteers
Past simple: volunteered
Past participle: volunteered
-ing form: volunteering
Sense 1
Meaning:
Tell voluntarily
Example:
He volunteered the information
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Hypernyms (to "volunteer" is one way to...):
inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Sense 2
Meaning:
Do volunteer work
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "volunteer" is one way to...):
work (exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Derivation:
voluntary ((military) a person who freely enlists for service)
volunteer (a person who performs voluntary work)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Agree freely
Example:
I offered to help with the dishes but the hostess would not hear of it
Synonyms:
offer; volunteer
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "volunteer" is one way to...):
act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE
Sentence example:
They volunteer to move
Context examples:
The scientists determined the pattern of the volunteers’ brain activity as they focused on each item.
(Recalling temporary memories, NIH)
Energy expenditure was determined by measuring the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the volunteers’ breath.
(Fitness Trackers Bad at Measuring Calories Burned, Study Says, VOA)
This month, you may make it a resolution to volunteer for a charity and find the work outstandingly gratifying.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Before the yellow balls popped up, volunteers had already noticed green bubbles with red centers, populating a landscape of swirling gas and dust.
(Citizen Scientists Discover Yellow "Space Balls", NASA)
A person volunteering to participate as a subject in a clinical trial, often a healthy person agreeing to participate in a Phase 1 trial.
(Clinical Trial Subject, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)
The group of 11 volunteers had low immunity to the 2015-2016 seasonal influenza vaccine’s virus strains.
(Disrupting the gut microbiome may affect some immune responses to flu vaccination, National Institutes of Health)
In medicine, a group of non-scientist volunteers that serves as a link between a community and clinical trial researchers.
(CAB, NCI Dictionary)
A team of health care professionals and volunteers provides it.
(Hospice Care, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
Second mate volunteered to steer and watch, and let men snatch a few hours' sleep.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Bibles and Prayer-books seemed scarce articles, but one of the men volunteered to pursue the quest amongst the watch below, returning in a minute with the information that there was none.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
