voluntary
- noun
- /ˈvɑːlənˌtɛri/
- Specialized
:
voluntario (pieza para órgano)
- Then the band will play "Trumpet Voluntary," everyone will go home, and she can start computing grades for her sophomore history class.
Examples
-
"Voluntary" means that the parties choose whether to engage in arbitration.
Academic text (1994) -
- Voluntary?
-
"These voluntaries" are parental commitments, with or without the consent of adolescent girls who have not been adjudicated in court.
Academic text (2004) -
"It is understood that many of the voluntaries are drug- or alcohol-involved girls, girls who are sexually active, and girls who have defied parental or school authorities.
Academic text (2004) -
Ethical life cannot be characterized in Kantian fashion as occurring in a realm of pure freedom: the morality system puts "too much pressure on the subject of the voluntary" by requiring a voluntariness "that will be total and will cut through character and psychological or social determination" (ELP 194).
Academic text (1998) -
During the church service, the organist performed a beautiful voluntary to inspire the congregation.
-
Before the wedding ceremony, the musician played a moving voluntary on the organ to set the mood.
-
After the service, the choir sang a lovely voluntary while the audience listened in silence.
Synonyms
4
3.7
A piece of music that has no singing
A short piece of music that sounds like it was made up while playing
Compounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
voluntary = volunt + ary
The noun shares form with the adjective (root + -ary) and historically denotes a piece performed 'by choice', but the specialized musical meaning is not directly inferable for many learners from the general adjective sense.
Etymology
A voluntary (a short musical piece) comes from Latin voluntarius meaning 'of one's will'; it was often an organ piece the player made or chose 'at will', which is why it was not part of the regular church service.