volition

a choice or decision made by the will; discretion: She left on her own volition.

Not to be confused with:

violation – a breach, infringement, or transgression as of a law or rule: She was stopped for a traffic violation.

vo·li·tion

(və-lĭsh′ən)

1. The act of making a conscious choice or decision: He left of his own volition.

2. The power or faculty of choosing; the will: as long as I can exercise my volition.

[French, from Medieval Latin volitiō, volitiōn-, from Latin velle, vol-, to wish; see wel- in Indo-European roots.]

vo·li′tion·al adj.

vo·li′tion·al·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

volition

(vəˈlɪʃən)

1. the act of exercising the will: of one's own volition.

2. the faculty or capability of conscious choice, decision, and intention; the will

3. the resulting choice or resolution

4. (Philosophy) philosophy an act of will as distinguished from the physical movement it intends to bring about

[C17: from Medieval Latin volitiō, from Latin vol- as in volō I will, present stem of velle to wish]

voˈlitional, voˈlitionary adj

voˈlitionally adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vo•li•tion

(voʊˈlɪʃ ən, və-)

n.

1. the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of the will: She left of her own volition.

2. the power of willing or choosing; will.

3. a choice or decision made by the will.

[1605–15; < Medieval Latin volitiō, derivative of Latin vol-, variant s. of velle to want, wish (see will¹)]

vo•li′tion•al, vo•li′tion•ar`y, adj.

vo•li′tion•al•ly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	volition - the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention; "the exercise of their volition we construe as revolt"- George Meredith will faculty, mental faculty, module - one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind velleity - volition in its weakest form
	2.	volition - the act of making a choice; "followed my father of my own volition" willing selection, choice, option, pick - the act of choosing or selecting; "your choice of colors was unfortunate"; "you can take your pick" intention - an act of intending; a volition that you intend to carry out; "my intention changed once I saw her"

volition

noun free will, will, choice, election, choosing, option, purpose, resolution, determination, preference, discretion committing crimes of violence through cold, premeditated volition

of your own volition of your own free will, voluntarily Mr Coombes had gone to the police of his own volition.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

volition

noun

The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides:

will.

Translations

Wille

βούληση

desiderio di propria volont...

volition

[vəˈlɪʃən] N of one's own volition (frm) → por voluntad (propia), de libre albedrío

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

volition

[vəˈlɪʃ^ən] n → volonté f
of one's own volition → de son propre gré

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

volition

n → Wille m; simply by the exercise of your volition → mit dem Willen allein; of one’s own volition → aus freiem Willen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

volition

[vəˈlɪʃ/ən] n of one's own volition → di propria volontà

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

vo·li·tion

n. volición, voluntad, poder de determinación.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Nevertheless, we perfectly well recognize the different mental states of volition implied in "lying", "sitting", and "standing", which are to some extent indicated to a beholder by a slight increase of lustre corresponding to the increase of volition.

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It is worse; for you cannot sit motionless in the heart of these perils, because the boat is rocking like a cradle, and you are pitched one way and the other, without the slightest warning; and only by a certain self-adjusting buoyancy and simultaneousness of volition and action, can you escape being made a Mazeppa of, and run away with where the all-seeing sun himself could never pierce you out.

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Sola, who had accompanied the searching party of her own volition, was the only one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in laughter as I battled for my life.

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These courageous men, it was said, were unable to force the door by their united strength, and always were hurled from the steps by some invisible agency and severely injured; the door immediately afterward opening, apparently of its own volition, to admit or free some ghostly guest.

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Without volition I leaned toward her, as a tree is swayed by the wind.

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I think that all this indirectly proceeds from the helpless perplexity of volition, in which their divided and diametrically opposite powers of vision must involve them.

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His fingers seemed to have acquired a new and exquisite subtlety and even a volition of their own.

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Though Napoleon at that time, in 1812, was more convinced than ever that it depended on him, verser (ou ne pas verser) le sang de ses peuples*- as Alexander expressed it in the last letter he wrote him- he had never been so much in the grip of inevitable laws, which compelled him, while thinking that he was acting on his own volition, to perform for the hive life- that is to say, for history- whatever had to be performed.

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In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.

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Actions of this kind, with which instinct and volition enter upon equal terms, have been called 'semi-reflex.' The act of running towards the train, on the other hand, has no instinctive element about it.

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But as she sat there amid her guests, she felt the old ennui overtaking her; the hopelessness which so often assailed her, which came upon her like an obsession, like something extraneous, independent of volition. It was something which announced itself; a chill breath that seemed to issue from some vast cavern wherein discords waited.

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Sense, perception, judgment, desire, volition, memory, imagination, are found to be separated by such delicate shades and minute gradations that their boundaries have eluded the most subtle investigations, and remain a pregnant source of ingenious disquisition and controversy.

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