volun-told

adjective

Nominally voluntary but understood to be an order.

Opposite
voluntary
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Meanings

adjectivevolun-told (comparative more volun-told, superlative most volun-told)

comparative more volun-told · superlative most volun-told

  1. USslanggovernmentNominally voluntary but understood to be an order.

    Yet military life includes times when requests, though not explicit, are understood as orders, says Michael Weinstein, a former U.S. military lawyer and founder of MRFF. The U.S. military word for it, he notes, is “volun-told.”

    2026 April 23, Anna Mulrine Grobe, Sophie Hills, quoting Michael Weinstein, “Pete Hegseth’s religious rhetoric stirs debate in military”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
voluntary

Origin

Blend of voluntary + told

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

volun-told. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volun-told

MLA

“volun-told.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volun-told. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “volun-told,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/volun-told.

Source: volun-told on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.