volunteer
Other forms: volunteers; volunteered; volunteering
To volunteer means to freely offer up your time and service to help. So a volunteer might offer to water a neighbor's plants while he's on vacation or sign up to serve dinner at a local homeless shelter.
When it came into usage circa 1600, the noun volunteer referred to a person who offered himself up for military service. It wasn't until a few decades later that the word was first used in a non-military sense. And a little over a hundred years after that, volunteer expanded from functioning as just a noun to also playing the role of verb. A volunteer is someone who volunteers: willingly performs a task or offers a service.
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a person who performs voluntary worksynonyms: unpaid workertypes:candy stripera volunteer worker in a hospitalpledge takera volunteer who records (usually by telephone) contributions pledged in a fund drivetype of:workera person who works at a specific occupation
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(military) a person who freely enlists for servicesynonyms: military volunteer, voluntaryantonyms:drafteesomeone who is drafted into military servicetype of:man, military man, military personnel, servicemansomeone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force
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without payment
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tell voluntarily“He volunteered the information”type of:informimpart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to
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agree freely
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do volunteer worktype of:workexert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
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Vocabulary lists containing volunteer
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving is widely recognized as "Giving Tuesday." The point of this social movement is to encourage people to give instead of get, and it's cleverly timed to follow the gluttony (both culinary and commercial) of Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday has become an important fundraising event for charitable and nonprofit organizations around the world.
Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was originally called in the localities in which it was celebrated, began as an occasion for decorating the graves of soldiers who had died fighting in the U.S. Civil war. Declared a national holiday in 1966, it is traditionally observed by decorating fallen soldiers' graves, honoring them with parades, speeches, and concerts, and gathering for picnics and family gatherings. Celebrate Memorial Day with these words that help promote an understanding of the holiday's meaning. Then look for more meaning in the day by learning vocabulary from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and recite the famous memorial oration on this solemn day.
Here’s a look at some of the words you’re most likely to hear and see around Memorial Day. There are many ways to honor the people who died in combat for their country: one is to understand their vocabulary. Read the full article: The Respectful, Somber Vocabulary of Memorial Day