Meaning & use
volunteer
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
Someone who chooses to do work or help an organization without being paid or forced.
Grammar: Often used before another noun: a volunteer driver.
Patterns
- a volunteer for something
- a volunteer at something
The animal shelter relies on volunteers to walk the dogs.
She became a volunteer at the hospital after she retired.
We need two volunteers to help set up the chairs.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To offer to do something without being asked or made to.
Grammar: Can take a to-infinitive or an object (volunteer to help; volunteer information), or stand alone (nobody volunteered).
Patterns
- volunteer to do something
- volunteer for something
- volunteer something
Dana volunteered to bring dessert.
When the teacher asked for help, three students volunteered.
He volunteered for the night shift so his colleague could stay home.
nouncountablemilitary
A person who joins the armed forces by choice rather than being required to.
Grammar: Contrasts with a conscript, who is forced to serve.
The regiment was made up entirely of volunteers.
Many volunteers signed up within a week of the announcement.
Word forms
| plural | volunteers |
|---|---|
| third person singular | volunteers |
| past tense | volunteered |
| past participle | volunteered |
| -ing form | volunteering |
Common combinations
- volunteer work
- Her volunteer work includes teaching adults to read.
- volunteer to help
- Several neighbors volunteered to help with the cleanup.
- unpaid volunteer
- The festival is run by unpaid volunteers.
- volunteer firefighter
- My uncle is a volunteer firefighter in a small town.
- volunteer information
- He volunteered information nobody had asked for.
Synonyms and how they differ
- offer
- Offer is broader and can involve payment or a gift, while volunteer stresses doing something freely, usually unpaid.
- come forward
- Come forward suggests stepping up in response to a call, often to give evidence, while volunteer focuses on willingness to act.
- helper
- Helper is a general word for anyone who assists, whereas a volunteer is specifically unpaid and typically works for a group.
- enlist
- Enlist is used mainly for joining the armed forces or a cause formally, unlike the wider volunteer.
Opposites
Word family
- voluntary adjective
- done by choice, not by force
- voluntarily adverb
- of one's own free will
- volunteerism noun
- the practice of giving time freely to causes
- volition noun
- the power to choose or decide
Commonly confused: volunteer or voluntary?
volunteer vs voluntary
Voluntary is an adjective describing something done by choice (a voluntary donation), while volunteer is a person or the act of offering.
Practice
Which sentence uses volunteer correctly as a verb?
Choose one answer.
Volunteer as a verb takes a to-infinitive, as in volunteer to help. A gerund after it, as in option 1, is not standard.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “volunteer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.