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free will

   Also found in: Legal, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.03 sec.
free will
n.
1. The ability or discretion to choose; free choice: chose to remain behind of my own free will.
2. The power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will.

[Middle English fre wil, translation of Late Latin lberum arbitrium : Latin lberum, neuter of lber, free + Latin arbitrium, will.]

free will
n
1. (Philosophy)
a.  the apparent human ability to make choices that are not externally determined
b.  the doctrine that such human freedom of choice is not illusory Compare determinism
c.  (as modifier) a free-will decision
2. the ability to make a choice without coercion he left of his own free will: I did not influence him
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.free will - the power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies
power, powerfulness - possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade"
self-determination - determination of one's own fate or course of action without compulsion
Translations
free will nlibero arbitrio
of one's own free will → di spontanea volontà
free will nlibero arbitrio
of one's own free will → di spontanea volontà


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
The straight warp of necessity, not to be swerved from its ultimate course --its every alternating vibration, indeed, only tending to that; free will still free to ply her shuttle between given threads; and chance, though restrained in its play within the right lines of necessity, and sideways in its motions directed by free will, though thus prescribed to by both, chance by turns rules either, and has the last featuring blow at events.
Besides, he will at once be transformed from a human being into an organ-stop or something of the sort; for what is a man without desires, without free will and without choice, if not a stop in an organ?
Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions,[*] but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.
 
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