Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Acting or done without or against one's will.
- adjective Not subject to control of the volition.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Not voluntary or willing; contrary or opposed to will or desire; unwilling; unintentional: as, involuntary submission; an involuntary listener.
- Not voluntary or willed; independent of volition or consenting action of the mind; without the agency of the will: as, involuntary muscular action; an involuntary groan.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Not having will or the power of choice.
- adjective Not under the influence or control of the will; not voluntary
- adjective Not proceeding from choice; done unwillingly; reluctant; compulsory.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Without
intention ;unintentional . - adjective Not
voluntary orwilling ; contrary or opposed toexplicit will ordesire ;unwilling .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not subject to the control of the will
- adjective controlled by the autonomic nervous system; without conscious control
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"I'd never heard of the term 'involuntary resignation,' " said Committeeman Mike DeBlasi, who recalled "several occurrences" in the past year in which the quality of the school's Human Resources Department's work was called into question.
All Stories 2011
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"I'd never heard of the term 'involuntary resignation,' " said Committeeman Mike DeBlasi, who recalled "several occurrences" in the past year in which the quality of the school's Human Resources Department's work was called into question.
All Stories 2011
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Gaskell has used the term involuntary nervous system.
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[Sidenote: 1111a] Again, we do not usually apply the term involuntary when a man is ignorant of his own true interest; because ignorance which affects moral choice constitutes depravity but not involuntariness: nor does any ignorance of principle (because for this men are blamed) but ignorance in particular details, wherein consists the action and wherewith it is concerned, for in these there is both compassion and allowance, because he who acts in ignorance of any of them acts in a proper sense involuntarily.
Ethics 384 BC-322 BC Aristotle
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I wonder what the difference in involuntary reactions is. datingjesus
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After all, the line between voluntary and involuntary is very different in the military than in the civilian world.
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His pleadings usually culminated in involuntary raving, until it seemed to her that he was passing into a fit; but always she shook her head and denied him the freedom for which he worked himself into a passion.
THE UNEXPECTED 2010
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But we free marketeers don't believe in involuntary unemployment compensation. and my children are beating up your kids to steal lunch money because I couldn't afford to feed them.
Math and Economics, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Accidental homicide is often called involuntary manslaughter, for which one can serve time.
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He grants that St. Augustine would not term involuntary desires sin; then he adds, "We, on the contrary, deem it to be sin whenever a man feels any desires forbidden by Divine law -- and we assert the depravity to be sin which produces them" (Institutes, III, 2, 10).
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux 1840-1916 1913
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