spontaneous

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“
Laughter is spontaneous, that is to say, the movements are not designed or directed by the conscious will.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. adjective Happening or arising without apparent external cause; self-generated.
  2. adjective Arising from a natural inclination or impulse and not from external incitement or constraint.
  3. adjective Unconstrained and unstudied in manner or behavior.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (14)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Right People for the President is fun, spontaneous, and involving. —  Polstate.com
  • Government bureaucracies like the SEC claim credit for the spontaneous order produced by markets, when they are really the source of disorder, instability, and corruption. —  Kevin D. Rollins
  • It was spontaneous, applied only to Clodius, and it was true. —  Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
  • Although usually spontaneous, a five minute session will burn off as many calories as a brisk fifteen minute walk. —  Dog Magazine dot net - Home of K9 Magazine
  • Street battles glimpsed down alleys-Partials in gun battles with ragtag spontaneous militias wearing blue ribbons round their arms. —  Ecstatic Days
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

natural ·  sincere ·  sudden ·  instinctive ·  poetic ·  involuntary
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From Late Latin spontāneus, of one's own accord, from Latin sponte; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French spontané = Spanish Portuguese espontaneo = Italian spontaneo, from Late Latin spontaneus, willing, from Latin spon (t-)s, will, only in genitive spontis and ablative sponte, of one's own will, of one's own accord.
 

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/spɑnˈteɪnəəs/
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