involuntary

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: in=vol=un=tar=y

CIDE DICTIONARY

involuntary, a. [L. involuntarius. See In- not, and Voluntary.].

•  Not having will or the power of choice.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not under the influence or control of the will; not voluntary; as, the involuntary movements of the body; involuntary muscle fibers.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not proceeding from choice; done unwillingly; reluctant; compulsory; as, involuntary submission.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

involuntary, adj.
1 done without the exercise of the will; unintentional.
2 (of a limb, muscle, or movement) not under the control of the will.

Derivative

involuntarily adv. involuntariness n.

Etymology

LL involuntarius (as IN-(1), VOLUNTARY)

THESAURUS

involuntary

at odds, automatic, averse, binding, blind, casual, compulsive, compulsory, conditioned, cursory, dictated, differing, disagreeing, disinclined, disobedient, forced, fractious, gut, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-devised, imperative, impulsive, inadvertent, indeliberate, indisposed, indocile, inevitable, inherent, innate, instinctive, instinctual, libidinal, mandatory, mechanical, mutinous, natural, necessary, obligatory, opposed, perfunctory, recalcitrant, reflex, reflexive, refractory, required, resistant, snap, spontaneous, subliminal, sulky, sullen, unadvised, uncalculated, unconscious, unconsenting, unconsidered, uncontrollable, uncontrolled, undeliberate, undeliberated, undesigned, unguarded, unguided, unintended, unintentional, unlearned, unmeant, unmeditated, unplanned, unpremeditated, unprompted, unpurposed, unstudied, unthinking, unthought-of, unwilled, unwilling, unwitting

ROGET THESAURUS

involuntary

Necessity

N necessity, involuntariness, instinct, blind impulse, inborn proclivity, innate proclivity, native tendency, natural tendency, natural impulse, predetermination, necessity, necessitation, obligation, compulsion, subjection, stern necessity, hard necessity, dire necessity, imperious necessity, inexorable necessity, iron necessity, adverse necessity, fate, what must be, destiny, destination, fatality, fate, kismet, doom, foredoom, election, predestination, preordination, foreordination, lot fortune, fatalism, inevitableness, spell, star, stars, planet, planets, astral influence, sky, Fates, Parcae, Sisters three, book of fate, God's will, will of Heaven, wheel of Fortune, Ides of March, Hobson's choice, last shift, last resort, dernier ressort, pis aller, necessaries, necessarian, necessitarian, fatalist, automaton, necessary, needful, fated, destined, elect, spellbound compulsory, uncontrollable, inevitable, unavoidable, irresistible, irrevocable, inexorable, avoidless, resistless, involuntary, instinctive, automatic, blind, mechanical, unconscious, unwitting, unthinking, unintentional, impulsive, necessarily, of necessity, of course, ex necessitate rei, needs must, perforce, nolens volens, will he nil he, willy nilly, bon gre mal gre, willing or unwilling, coute que coute, faute de mieux, by stress of, if need be, it cannot be helped, there is no help for, there is no helping it, it will be, it must be, it needs to be, it must be so, it will have its way, the die is cast, jacta est alea, che sara sara, it is written, one's days are numbered, one's fate is sealed, Fata obstant, diis aliter visum, actum me invito factus, non est meus actus, aujord'hui roi demain rien, quisque suos patimur manes, The moving finger writes and having writ moves on, Nor all thy piety nor wit shall draw it back to ca.

Unwillingness

N unwillingness, indisposition, indisposedness, disinclination, aversation, nolleity, nolition, renitence, renitency, reluctance, indifference, backwardness, slowness, want of alacrity, want of readiness, indocility, scrupulousness, scrupulosity, qualms of conscience, twinge of conscience, delicacy, demur, scruple, qualm, shrinking, recoil, hesitation, fastidiousness, averseness, dissent, refusal, unwilling, not in the vein, loth, loath, shy of, disinclined, indisposed, averse, reluctant, not content, adverse, laggard, backward, remiss, slack, slow to, indifferent, scrupulous, squeamish, repugnant, restiff, restive, demurring, unconsenting, involuntary, unwillingly, grudgingly, with a heavy heart, with a bad, with an ill grace, against one's wishes, against one's will, against the grain, sore against one's wishes, sore against one's will, sore against one's grain, invita Minerva, a contre caeur, malgre soi, in spite of one's teeth, in spite of oneself, nolens volens, perforce, under protest, no, not for the world, far be it from me.