involuntary

«involuntary» in Mova's school dictionary: done without meaning to or without control, like a sneeze… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective

meaning for a pupil

1) Involuntary means done without meaning to or without control, like a sneeze or a shiver. tree →

2) (formal) Done against someone's will: «involuntary redundancy». tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in science (involuntary muscles like the heart, involuntary reflexes) and formal writing. It tells the reader an action was not chosen.

examples

• Blinking is often involuntary. tree →
• The heart is an involuntary muscle. tree →
• She gave an involuntary shiver. tree →
• Sneezing is an involuntary reflex. tree →
• His involuntary laugh made everyone giggle. tree →
• Hiccups are involuntary. tree →

note

Opposite: voluntary. «An involuntary» (vowel sound). Adverb: involuntarily. In science, reflexes protect you, like pulling your hand from a hot pan.

In the corpora

• A song stuck in your head is called an earworm; scientists call it involuntary musical imagery, and most people get them.
• "Involuntary separation" (official US) means being fired.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «involuntary» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.