voluntarist

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈvɑlən.tɛrɪst/ UK /ˈvɒlən.tərɪst/ See IPA manual

noun adj

Meanings

1

noun
a person who holds that the will is primary, or relating to such a doctrine

As a voluntarist, she argued that desire, not reason, drives every decision.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who holds that the... volitionist

Opposites

deterministintellectualist

Word family

Derived forms voluntaristicvoluntaristically

Related forms voluntarism voluntary volition

Etymology

From voluntarism (from Latin voluntas 'will', from velle 'to will') plus the agent/adjective suffix -ist.

voluntarius Latin voluntas Latin velle Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# voluntarist

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** ˈvɑlən.tɛrɪst
**IPA (UK):** ˈvɒlən.tərɪst

## Meanings
1. a person who holds that the will is primary, or relating to such a doctrine

## Examples
- As a voluntarist, she argued that desire, not reason, drives every decision.

## Synonyms
- volitionist

## Antonyms
- determinist
- intellectualist

## Derived Forms
- voluntaristic
- voluntaristically

## Related Forms
- voluntarism
- voluntary
- volition

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: voluntarius
- Root: voluntas
- Root: velle

## Etymology
From voluntarism (from Latin voluntas 'will', from velle 'to will') plus the agent/adjective suffix -ist.

## AI Etymology
Voluntarist comes from voluntarism (from Latin voluntas 'will', from velle 'to will') plus the agent/adjective suffix -ist. In current use it is a noun and adjective meaning "a person who holds that the will is primary, or relating to such a doctrine". 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 voluntarism, voluntary, and volition. Derived forms include voluntaristic and voluntaristically. 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

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