voluntarism C2+ Topic:People & Society US /ˈvɑlən.tɛˌrɪzəm/ UK /ˈvɒlən.tə.rɪzəm/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun the doctrine that the will is the fundamental principle of the individual or the universe His ethics rested on a voluntarism that placed free choice above rational necessity. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · the doctrine that the will... volitionism ↔ Opposites intellectualismdeterminism Word family Derived forms voluntaristvoluntaristic Related forms voluntaryvolitionwill Etymology AI details A 19th-century philosophical coinage from Latin voluntarius ('willing, voluntary'), from voluntas ('will'), from velle ('to will'), plus -ism. voluntarius Latin voluntas Latin velle Latin View etymology graph -> Topics People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # voluntarism **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈvɑlən.tɛˌrɪzəm/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈvɒlən.tə.rɪzəm/ ## Meanings 1. the doctrine that the will is the fundamental principle of the individual or the universe ## Examples - His ethics rested on a voluntarism that placed free choice above rational necessity. ## Synonyms - volitionism ## Antonyms - intellectualism - determinism ## Derived Forms - voluntarist - voluntaristic ## Related Forms - voluntary - volition - will ## Roots and Affixes - Root: voluntarius - Root: voluntas - Root: velle ## Etymology A 19th-century philosophical coinage from Latin voluntarius ('willing, voluntary'), from voluntas ('will'), from velle ('to will'), plus -ism. ## AI Etymology Voluntarism is a 19th-century philosophical coinage from Latin voluntarius ('willing, voluntary'), from voluntas ('will'), from velle ('to will'), plus -ism. In current use it is a noun meaning "the doctrine that the will is the fundamental principle of the individual or the universe". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The surface form is compositional: its joined elements remain visible in the modern word. The historical chain includes Latin voluntarius, Latin voluntas, and Latin velle. Related English forms include voluntary, volition, and will. Derived forms include voluntarist and voluntaristic. The word's history is thus visible in its construction: the components remain interpretable even after the whole expression has settled into a conventional English meaning. ## Topics - People & Society - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown