volunteer

plural volunteers

1. One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.

   The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.

   1 more example

   The largest age group for volunteers was 35-44, the CNCS survey said, and volunteers were most likely to be parents with children under 18. The typical volunteer may live in Utah, which ranked first in the percentage of people who said they volunteered among all 50 states and Washington, DC.

   2018 July 19, Thom Patterson, “Stats reveal how many Americans volunteer and where”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 May 2025

2. governmentOne who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript.
3. governmentA voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.

   That summer and fall the Army organized twenty-five regiments of volunteers, including two black regiments, which would have all-black captains and lieutenants. All officers were to be selected from regulars and volunteers who had distinguished themselves[…]

   2007 April 30, Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 16

4. lawA person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
5. agricultureA plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
6. USA native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

present singular third person volunteers · participle present volunteering · participle past volunteered · past volunteered

1. intransitiveTo enlist oneself as a volunteer.
2. ambitransitiveTo do or offer to do something voluntarily.

   to volunteer for doing the dishes

   2 more examples

   Miranda: No good. Both routes are blocked. See these doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side. Shepard: It's not a fortress; there's got to be something. Here, maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft. Jacob: Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer. Miranda: I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you couldn't shut down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert.

   2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2

   The typical volunteer may live in Utah, which ranked first in the percentage of people who said they volunteered among all 50 states and Washington, DC. […] The median amount of time per year spent volunteering was 52 hours.

   2018 July 19, Thom Patterson, “Stats reveal how many Americans volunteer and where”, in CNN, archived from the original on 05 May 2025

3. transitiveTo offer, usually unprompted.

   to volunteer an explanation

4. informaltransitiveTo offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

   My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

5. intransitivebiologyTo grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.