vol·un·teer
ˌvä-lən-ˈtir 
1
: a person who voluntarily undertakes or expresses a willingness to undertake a service: such as
a
: one who enters into military service voluntarily
b(1)
: one who renders a service or takes part in a transaction while having no legal concern or interest
(2)
: one who receives a conveyance or transfer of property without giving valuable consideration
2
: a volunteer plant
3
capitalized
[Volunteers of America]
: a member of a quasi-military religious and philanthropic organization founded in 1896 by Commander and Mrs. Ballington Booth
volunteered; volunteering; volunteers
: to offer oneself as a volunteer
volunteered to host the meeting
: to offer or bestow voluntarily
volunteer one's services
1
: being, consisting of, or engaged in by volunteers
a volunteer army
busy with volunteer activities
2
: growing spontaneously without direct human control or supervision especially from seeds lost from a previous crop
volunteer corn plants
Synonyms
Examples of volunteer in a Sentence
Noun
Volunteers are needed to help with the bake sale.
The school was built by volunteers.
Verb
Our son volunteered for military service.
He would not volunteer any information about her whereabouts.
Adjective
volunteer work at the hospital
Recent Examples on the Web
Shawna Mizelle, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2024
On average, Lasagna Love volunteers deliver 3,500 lasagnas each week to families in Australia, Canada and the United States.
—Theresa Cisneros, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
As part of the original study, these volunteers had agreed to wear activity trackers for a week.
—Ed Cara / Gizmodo, Quartz, 11 Apr. 2024
Over the past two decades since the alliance started collecting data, volunteers collected more than 1.7 million pieces of plastic on Great Lakes beaches.
—Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2024
If an Asian hornet lands, volunteers attach tinsel streamers to its back to monitor its flight path and trace it back to its nest.
—Frankie Adkins, WIRED, 10 Apr. 2024
If the city provides the necessary cleanup gear, disinfectants, work clothing, boots and other equipment, volunteers might join in and help the governor in a worthwhile cause.
—Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
To come up with a vision, Blaik and a handful of his staffers will open up the manifesto drafted by a volunteer group of nearly two dozen local leaders and stakeholders organized by Gloria.
—Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2024
But over the past six weeks, several volunteers and advisors have joined the team to bring the inaugural edition to life.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 2 Apr. 2024
Shawn Raymundo, The Arizona Republic, 15 Apr. 2024
With that in mind, Shenouda volunteered to clean up glasses at the conference to gain free entry, and traveled over six hours from Cologne to Hamburg by train with a stack of résumés in hand.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
In one of the searches, nearly 2,000 people volunteered to help look for Maddi Kingsbury, allowing authorities time to search new locations.
—Jordan Kinsey, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2024
Ball shared an update on social media to search for a match, and many volunteered, including her sister and co-worker.
—Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 12 Apr. 2024
To volunteer with Lasagna Love or to request a meal, visit: lasagnalove.org.
—Theresa Cisneros, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
How to volunteer Here are the dates and locations of river, lake and park cleanups in metro Detroit this spring.
—Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 11 Apr. 2024
Dedicated retirees have volunteered their time for years The program also relies on roughly 40 volunteers each week to pack bag lunches, serve hot food and pour milk and coffee.
—Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 9 Apr. 2024
The Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits health care organizations, collected this same measurement for 2022 from about 250 hospitals that volunteered the data, finding a median ER speed of five hours and 41 minutes — or about five hours faster than Ballad’s latest annual report.
—Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2023
That’s noteworthy for a show based at a high-school auditorium in Litchfield and run by a staff that is almost entirely volunteer, including the show’s star and its producer.
—Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2022
Cycling Schools is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
—Shirley MacFarland, cleveland, 22 July 2022
Unfortunately, there’s no major title sponsor now, and that makes everything tougher: paying for permits, paying overtime for police officers, paying for non-volunteer staff.
—Lori Nickel, Journal Sentinel, 16 June 2022
The fire company is the only one in Carroll County that is completely volunteer run, with no career fire personnel.
—Dylan Slagle, Baltimore Sun, 23 June 2022
Glauner noted that Fire Station 1, at 4383 Center Road, was built in 1960 with additional bays installed in the 1970s, at a time when the department was all-volunteer.
—Brian Lisik, cleveland, 15 Feb. 2022
New York’s state guard is all volunteer, as is Ohio’s.
—NBC News, 3 Feb. 2022
In rural America, 35% of ambulance services are all-volunteer.
—Steve Hartman, CBS News, 21 Jan. 2022
Noun
Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom said its volunteers gathered more than 225,000 signatures and met the district requirements, as well.
—Shawna Mizelle, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2024
On average, Lasagna Love volunteers deliver 3,500 lasagnas each week to families in Australia, Canada and the United States.
—Theresa Cisneros, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
As part of the original study, these volunteers had agreed to wear activity trackers for a week.
—Ed Cara / Gizmodo, Quartz, 11 Apr. 2024
Over the past two decades since the alliance started collecting data, volunteers collected more than 1.7 million pieces of plastic on Great Lakes beaches.
—Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2024
If an Asian hornet lands, volunteers attach tinsel streamers to its back to monitor its flight path and trace it back to its nest.
—Frankie Adkins, WIRED, 10 Apr. 2024
If the city provides the necessary cleanup gear, disinfectants, work clothing, boots and other equipment, volunteers might join in and help the governor in a worthwhile cause.
—Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 9 Apr. 2024
To come up with a vision, Blaik and a handful of his staffers will open up the manifesto drafted by a volunteer group of nearly two dozen local leaders and stakeholders organized by Gloria.
—Jennifer Van Grove, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2024
But over the past six weeks, several volunteers and advisors have joined the team to bring the inaugural edition to life.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 2 Apr. 2024
Verb
Over the years, she’s volunteered at Phoenix-area churches and sat on local boards and commissions including the city’s Community Development Advisory Committee.
—Shawn Raymundo, The Arizona Republic, 15 Apr. 2024
With that in mind, Shenouda volunteered to clean up glasses at the conference to gain free entry, and traveled over six hours from Cologne to Hamburg by train with a stack of résumés in hand.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 13 Apr. 2024
In one of the searches, nearly 2,000 people volunteered to help look for Maddi Kingsbury, allowing authorities time to search new locations.
—Jordan Kinsey, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2024
Ball shared an update on social media to search for a match, and many volunteered, including her sister and co-worker.
—Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 12 Apr. 2024
To volunteer with Lasagna Love or to request a meal, visit: lasagnalove.org.
—Theresa Cisneros, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
How to volunteer Here are the dates and locations of river, lake and park cleanups in metro Detroit this spring.
—Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 11 Apr. 2024
Dedicated retirees have volunteered their time for years The program also relies on roughly 40 volunteers each week to pack bag lunches, serve hot food and pour milk and coffee.
—Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 9 Apr. 2024
The Joint Commission, a nonprofit that accredits health care organizations, collected this same measurement for 2022 from about 250 hospitals that volunteered the data, finding a median ER speed of five hours and 41 minutes — or about five hours faster than Ballad’s latest annual report.
—Brett Kelman and Samantha Liss, USA TODAY, 9 Apr. 2024
Adjective
Within the past couple of years, the group has become a part of Arrowhead Kingdom, an all-volunteer national network of Chiefs fan groups.
—Hannah Kirby, Journal Sentinel, 8 Feb. 2023
That’s noteworthy for a show based at a high-school auditorium in Litchfield and run by a staff that is almost entirely volunteer, including the show’s star and its producer.
—Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2022
Cycling Schools is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
—Shirley MacFarland, cleveland, 22 July 2022
Unfortunately, there’s no major title sponsor now, and that makes everything tougher: paying for permits, paying overtime for police officers, paying for non-volunteer staff.
—Lori Nickel, Journal Sentinel, 16 June 2022
The fire company is the only one in Carroll County that is completely volunteer run, with no career fire personnel.
—Dylan Slagle, Baltimore Sun, 23 June 2022
Glauner noted that Fire Station 1, at 4383 Center Road, was built in 1960 with additional bays installed in the 1970s, at a time when the department was all-volunteer.
—Brian Lisik, cleveland, 15 Feb. 2022
New York’s state guard is all volunteer, as is Ohio’s.
—NBC News, 3 Feb. 2022
In rural America, 35% of ambulance services are all-volunteer.
—Steve Hartman, CBS News, 21 Jan. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'volunteer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near volunteer
Cite this Entry
“Volunteer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volunteer. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
volunteer
1 of 3 noun
vol·un·teer
ˌväl-ən-ˈti(ə)r
: a person who volunteers for a service
volunteer
2 of 3 adjective
: being, consisting of, or engaged in by volunteers
a volunteer fire department
volunteer activities
volunteer
3 of 3 verb1
: to offer voluntarily
volunteered my services
2
: to offer oneself as a volunteer
volunteered to do the job
Legal Definition
volunteer
noun
vol·un·teer
ˌvä-lən-ˈtir
1
: one that voluntarily undertakes something
especially
: one who without request, obligation, or an interest pays the debt of another and is denied reimbursement from subrogation
2
: one who receives property without giving valuable consideration
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