Vol·un·ta·ry a.
 1. Proceeding from the will; produced in or by an act of choice.
    That sin or guilt pertains exclusively to voluntary action is the true principle of orthodoxy.   --N. W. Taylor.
 2. Unconstrained by the interference of another; unimpelled by the influence of another; not prompted or persuaded by another; done of his or its own accord; spontaneous; acting of one's self, or of itself; free.
    Our voluntary service he requires.   --Milton.
    She fell to lust a voluntary prey.   --Pope.
 3. Done by design or intention; intentional; purposed; intended; not accidental; as, if a man kills another by lopping a tree, it is not voluntary manslaughter.
 4. Physiol. Of or pertaining to the will; subject to, or regulated by, the will; as, the voluntary motions of an animal, such as the movements of the leg or arm (in distinction from involuntary motions, such as the movements of the heart); the voluntary muscle fibers, which are the agents in voluntary motion.
 5. Endowed with the power of willing; as, man is a voluntary agent.
    God did not work as a necessary, but a voluntary, agent, intending beforehand, and decreeing with himself, that which did outwardly proceed from him.   --Hooker.
 6. Law Free; without compulsion; according to the will, consent, or agreement, of a party; without consideration; gratuitous; without valuable consideration.
 7. Eccl. Of or pertaining to voluntaryism; as, a voluntary church, in distinction from an established or state church.
 Voluntary affidavit or Voluntary oath Law, an affidavit or oath made in an extrajudicial matter.
 Voluntary conveyance Law, a conveyance without valuable consideration.
 Voluntary escape Law, the escape of a prisoner by the express consent of the sheriff.
 Voluntary jurisdiction. Eng. Eccl. Law See Contentious jurisdiction, under Contentious.
 Voluntary waste. Law See Waste, n., 4.
 Syn: -- See Spontaneous.


 Con·ten·tious a.
 1. Fond of contention; given to angry debate; provoking dispute or contention; quarrelsome.
    Despotic and contentious temper.   --Macaulay.
 2. Relating to contention or strife; involving or characterized by contention.
    More cheerful, though not less contentious, regions.   --Brougham.
 3. Law Contested; litigated; litigious; having power to decide controversy.
 Contentious jurisdiction Eng. Eccl. Law, jurisdiction over matters in controversy between parties, in contradistinction to voluntary jurisdiction, or that exercised upon matters not opposed or controverted.
 Syn: -- Quarrelsome; pugnacious; dissentious; wrangling; litigious; perverse; peevish.
 -- Con*ten*tious*ly, adv. -- Con*ten*tious*ness, n.

 ◄ ►