volition
noun
Simple meaning
The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vohlishuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
voʊˈlɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
“The exercise of their volition we construe as revolt"- George Meredith.”
The mental power or ability of choosing; the will.
linguistics
A concept that distinguishes whether or not the subject or agent intended something.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
Used this way, volition is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The exercise of their volition we construe as revolt"- George Meredith.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use volition
- “Followed my father of my own volition.”noun
- “The exercise of their volition we construe as revolt"- George Meredith.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.