Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In an involuntary manner; not spontaneously; without one's will.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In an involuntary manner; not voluntarily; not intentionally or willingly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb In an involuntary manner; done without conscious thought.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb against your will

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

involuntary +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • As it is, Bobby Garwood was a major embarrassment to two government: the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, for their claiming no living Americans remain involuntarily in their country, and to the U.S. for believing them.

    Statistics on the Prisoner of War issue 2010

  • House cleaning, voluntarily and/or involuntarily, is required and a fresh start is needed.

    Has Microsoft Sent Yahoo Into a Death Spiral? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • "Long Sin," came the name involuntarily to my lips, for I knew that Wu would delegate just such a job to his faithful slave.

    The Romance of Elaine Sequel to "Exploits of Elaine" 1908

  • So he was harnessed in again, and proudly he pulled as of old, though more than once he cried out involuntarily from the bite of his inward hurt.

    Chapter 4, Who Has Won to Mastership 1903

  • So he was harnessed in again, and proudly he pulled as of old, though more than once he cried out involuntarily from the bite of his inward hurt.

    Chapter 4 1903

  • And at last she found herself uttering the name involuntarily, overcome by something stronger than her dread.

    Demos George Gissing 1880

  • She blushed crimson as the word involuntarily broke from her lips, and cried again as loudly as she could, "Help!"

    The Bread-winners A Social Study John Hay 1870

  • Astonishment, pleasure, hope, and shame, took alternate rapid possession of her mind; but the last sensation was the first that visibly operated, and she snatched her hand involuntarily from the Major.

    Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth 1796

  • I knew not what to say; but I sighed involuntarily from the bottom of my heart.

    Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance Into the World 1778

  • And even later, when for the first time in her life she had lain in bed with a man and said his name involuntarily or said it truly meaning him, the name she was screaming and saying was not his at all.

    Toni Morrison - Prose 1993

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