Meaning & use
volunteers
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“volunteers” is a form of “volunteer”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
People who freely offer to do a job or help without being paid or forced.
Grammar: This is the plural of 'volunteer'; use it for more than one person, and note the singular 'volunteer' for one.
Patterns
- volunteers for something
- volunteers at a place
- a group of volunteers
The hospital relies on volunteers to run the front desk.
Over fifty volunteers turned up to clean the beach on Saturday.
Local volunteers delivered food to families who could not leave home.
verbtransitive or intransitive
Offers to do something willingly, or gives information or help without being asked.
Grammar: With 'to' plus a verb it needs no object ('She volunteers to help'); with a direct object it means offering something ('He volunteered his time').
Patterns
- volunteers to do something
- volunteers for something
- volunteers something
She always volunteers to drive the children to practice.
He volunteered some useful details before anyone asked him.
They volunteer at the animal shelter every Sunday.
Word forms
| base form | volunteer |
|---|---|
| third person singular | volunteers |
| past tense | volunteered |
| past participle | volunteered |
| -ing form | volunteering |
Common combinations
- volunteer workers
- Volunteer workers rebuilt the damaged playground in a weekend.
- a team of volunteers
- A team of volunteers organized the whole festival.
- volunteer for a charity
- She volunteers for a charity that helps refugees.
- volunteer information
- Nobody asked him, but he volunteered information about the missing files.
- volunteer your time
- Many retired people volunteer their time at local schools.
Synonyms and how they differ
- helper
- A neutral word for anyone who assists; it does not suggest that the person chose the work freely or works without pay, so 'volunteer' is better for unpaid, chosen service.
- worker
- Usually suggests paid or regular employment, whereas a volunteer gives time for free.
Opposites
Word family
- volunteer noun
- One person who offers help without pay.
- volunteering noun
- The activity of working without payment for an organization.
- voluntary adjective
- Done by choice, not forced.
- voluntarily adverb
- In a way that is done by choice.
Commonly confused: volunteers or volunteer's?
volunteers vs volunteer's
The apostrophe form shows possession: 'the volunteer's badge' means the badge of one volunteer, while 'volunteers' is simply more than one.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'volunteers' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Three volunteers' needs the plural noun after a number, and 'to help' follows correctly. Option 2 uses the singular after 'three', option 3 leaves out 'to', and option 4 uses the -ing form where a plural noun is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “volunteers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.