spontaneous
part of speech
adjective (spontaneous, more spontaneous); adverb spontaneously
meaning for a pupil
1) Spontaneous means happening or done suddenly, without being planned. tree →
2) A spontaneous person often does things on the spur of the moment, naturally and freely. tree →
3) (science) Spontaneous describes something that happens by itself without being caused from outside, like spontaneous combustion. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life spontaneous fun is not planned: a spontaneous trip to the beach. In stories it shows a character is lively and free, or a crowd reacts naturally (spontaneous applause). In science «spontaneous» means happening on its own. Phrases: spontaneous applause, a spontaneous decision, spontaneous combustion.
examples
- The crowd burst into spontaneous applause. tree →
- We made a spontaneous trip to the park. tree →
- Her laugh was warm and spontaneous. tree →
- He is spontaneous and always has new ideas. tree →
- The hug was spontaneous, not planned. tree →
- Piles of wet hay can catch fire by spontaneous combustion. tree →
- Our teacher likes spontaneous questions in class. tree →
note
Spelled -taneous: spon-TAY-nee-us. Opposite: planned, deliberate, rehearsed. Myth: «spontaneous human combustion» (people bursting into flames by themselves) is not supported by science.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «spontaneous» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.