Dictionary Definition
volunteer adj : without payment; "the soup
kitchen was run primarily by unpaid helpers"; "a volunteer fire
department" [syn: unpaid,
volunteer(a)]
Noun
1 (military) a person who freely enlists for
service [syn: military
volunteer, voluntary] [ant: draftee]
2 a person who performs voluntary work [syn:
unpaid
worker]
Verb
1 tell voluntarily; "He volunteered the
information"
2 agree freely; "She volunteered to drive the old
lady home"; "I offered to help with the dishes but the hostess
would not hear of it" [syn: offer]
3 do volunteer work
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From voluntaire (French: volontaire) noun use of adjective meaning voluntary. Adjective is from the noun.Pronunciation
Adjective
Translations
of or pertaining to volunteers
- Finnish: vapaaehtoinen
- German: Freiwilligen-
growing spontaneously
- Finnish: villi
- Japanese: 自生の (jisē-no)
Noun
- One who enters into, or offers for, any service of his own free will, especially when done without pay.
- In the context of "Military": One who enters into military service voluntarily, but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers; -- opposed to conscript; specifically, a voluntary member of the organized militia of a country as distinguished from the standing army.
- A grantee in a voluntary conveyance; one to whom a conveyance is made without valuable consideration; a party, other than a wife or child of the grantor, to whom, or for whose benefit, a voluntary conveyance is made.
- In the context of "Law": A person who acts out of his own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
- In the context of "Agriculture": A volunteer plant.
Translations
one who voluntarily offers himself/herself for
service
- Croatian: volonter, dobrovoljac
- Czech: dobrovolník
- Finnish: vapaaehtoinen
- German: Freiwillige and
- Japanese: ボランティア (borantia)
- Portuguese: voluntário
- Russian: доброволец (dobrovól'ec)
- Scottish Gaelic: neach-deònach m|f
- Serbian: dobrovoljac
a voluntary soldier
- Croatian: volonter, dobrovoljac
- Finnish: vapaaehtoinen
- German: Freiwillige and
- Japanese: 志願兵 (shiganhē)
- Portuguese: voluntário
- Russian: доброволец (dobrovól'ec) , волонтёр (volont'ór)
- Serbian: dobrovoljac
one who acts without legal onbligation
- Japanese: 志願者 (shigansha)
- Portuguese: voluntário
a volunteer plant
- Finnish: villikasvi
- Japanese: 自生植物 (jisē-shokubutsu)
- ttbc Arabic:
- ttbc Chinese: 志願者, 志愿者 (zhìyuànzhě)
- ttbc Dutch: vrijwilliger
- ttbc French: volontaire , bénévole
- ttbc Hebrew: מתנדב (mitnɑdev) , מתנדבת (mitnɑdevet)
- ttbc Italian: volontario
- ttbc Korean: 지원자 (jiweonja)
- ttbc Spanish: voluntario
- ttbc Swedish: frivillig
- ttbc Welsh: gwirfoddolwr (person); gwirfoddoli (v.)
Verb
- To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
- To do or offer to do something voluntarily.
- to volunteer for doing the dishes
- to volunteer an explanation
Translations
to enlist oneself as a volunteer
- Finnish: ilmoittautua vapaaehtoiseksi
- German: sich freiwillig melden
- Japanese: 志願する (shigan-suru)
to do or offer to do something voluntarily
References
Extensive Definition
A volunteer is someone who works for a
community or for the benefit of environment
primarily because they choose to do so. The word comes from Latin,
and can be translated as "will" (as in doing something out of ones
own free will). Many serve through a non-profit organization –
sometimes referred to as formal volunteering, but a significant
number also serve less formally, either individually or as part of
a group. A student in Ontario must volunteer if he wants to or
not.
By definition, a volunteer worker does not get
paid or receive compensation for services rendered other than
reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses.
Volunteer management
Many organizations (hospitals, food banks, etc.) have a continual need for volunteers. Other high-profile events, such as a marathon, require hundreds or thousands of volunteers for a one-time or annual need. The success of such events has a significant economic impact on the local economy. Thus, there is increasing awareness of the economic importance of volunteers.This, in turn, has elevated the importance of the
volunteer manager for such events, people who formerly may have
managed volunteers in addition to other duties but now may be
viewed as professionals in the field. This has also increased the
need for volunteer management software, e-mail broadcasts, texting
and other technological tools, allowing the volunteer manager to
register and communicate with large numbers of people who otherwise
have no connection to each other.
See also
Volunteering
in India An organisation working on various models of
volunteering in India matching and working as a voluntary Non
Profit
Notes
External links
volunteer in Bulgarian: Доброволец
volunteer in Czech: Dobrovolník
volunteer in German: Ehrenamt
volunteer in Modern Greek (1453-):
Εθελοντισμός
volunteer in Spanish: Voluntariado
volunteer in French: Bénévolat
volunteer in Korean: 자원봉사자
volunteer in Italian: Volontariato
volunteer in Hebrew: התנדבות
volunteer in Lithuanian: Savanorystė
volunteer in Dutch: Vrijwilliger
volunteer in Japanese: ボランティア
volunteer in Norwegian: Frivillig
volunteer in Polish: Wolontariat
volunteer in Portuguese: Trabalho
voluntário
volunteer in Russian: Волонтёр
volunteer in Swedish: Volontär
volunteer in Tamil: தன்னார்வலர்
volunteer in Thai: อาสาสมัคร
volunteer in Turkish: Gönüllü
volunteer in Ukrainian: Волонтер
volunteer in Contenese: 義工
volunteer in Chinese: 志願工作者
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
arbitrary, autonomous, autonomousness, autonomy, come forward,
discretional,
discretionary, do
independently, do voluntarily, elective, free, free will, gratuitous, gratuitousness, independence, independent, need no
prodding, nonmandatory, offered, optional, proffered, self-acting,
self-action, self-active, self-activity, self-determination,
self-determined, self-determining, spontaneity, spontaneous, spontaneousness, step
forward, unasked,
unbesought, unbidden, uncalled-for,
uncoerced, uncompelled, unforced, unforcedness, uninfluenced, uninvited, unpressured, unprompted, unrequested, unrequired, unsolicited, unsought, voluntariness, voluntarism, voluntary, voluntaryism, volunteer
militia, volunteer navy, volunteering, willful