- 1a person who does a job without being paid for it volunteer helpers Schools need volunteers to help children to read. Wordfindercharityappeal, benefit, charity, collection, donation, fundraiser, handout, telethon, volunteer, welfare Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveunpaid, full-time, part-time, … … of volunteersarmy, band, group, … verb + volunteerappeal for, ask for, call for, … volunteer + verbcome forward, man something, staff something, … volunteer + nounstaff, worker, labour/labor, … prepositionvolunteer for See full entry See related entries: Helping others
- 2a person who offers to do something without being forced to do it Are there any volunteers to help clear up? Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveunpaid, full-time, part-time, … … of volunteersarmy, band, group, … verb + volunteerappeal for, ask for, call for, … volunteer + verbcome forward, man something, staff something, … volunteer + nounstaff, worker, labour/labor, … prepositionvolunteer for See full entry
- 3a person who chooses to join the armed forces without being forced to join Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivearmy, civilian verb + volunteerrecruit, serve as volunteer + nounarmy, corps, force, … See full entry compare conscript Word Originlate 16th cent. (as a noun, with military reference): from French volontaire ‘voluntary’. The change in the ending was due to association with -eer.Extra examples He worked as a volunteer for Oxfam. Hundreds of volunteers have come forward to offer their help. The charity is appealing for volunteers to take elderly patients to and from hospital. The local community provided volunteers to repair the road. The office is staffed by unpaid volunteers. The support our volunteers provide cannot be measured in purely practical terms. We can’t get any volunteers to help in the gardens. No volunteers came forward. volunteer carers/helpers
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