voluntarism

From voluntary +‎ -ism.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɒ.lən.t(ə.)ɹɪ.zəm/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑ.lən.t(ə.)ɹɪ.zəm/
• Hyphenation: vo‧lun‧ta‧ri‧sm, vo‧lun‧tari‧sm

voluntarism (countable and uncountable, plural voluntarisms)

1. (US) A reliance on volunteers to support an institution or achieve an end; volunteerism.
2. (philosophy) A doctrine that assigns the most dominant position to the will rather than the intellect.
3. (politics) The political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.

• voluntarist
• voluntaristic

• voluntaryism

Borrowed from French volontarisme.

voluntarism n (uncountable)

1. voluntarism