spontaneous
adjective
Did you know?
When English philosopher Thomas Hobbes penned his 1656 The Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and Chance he included the following: "all voluntary actions … are called also spontaneous, and said to be done by man's own accord." Hobbes was writing in English, but he knew Latin perfectly well too, including the source of spontaneous; the word comes, via Late Latin spontaneus, from the Latin sponte, meaning "of one's free will, voluntarily." In modern use, the word spontaneous is frequently heard in more mundane settings, where it often describes what is done or said without a lot of thought or planning.
Synonyms
Examples of spontaneous in a Sentence
James Oseland, Saveur, December 2006
Cold viruses can damage the olfactory system directly. This loss of smell may last even after the cold is over. Sometimes the sense comes back as suddenly as it disappeared, perhaps because even as adults we generate new olfactory neurons. Spontaneous improvement might be a person's best hope, because there are no real proven treatments for reversing olfactory nerve damage.
—Harvard Health Letter, September 2001
Peter Jakobsen of the European Space Agency, which built the Faint Object Camera, drew spontaneous applause at the January meeting when he showed an image of supernova SN1987A from the instrument.
—Kristin Leutwyler, Scientific American, March 1994
The comment was completely spontaneous.
He's a guy who's spontaneous and fun.
Mark Travers, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
Gaga’s brassy belt brings out one of the album’s most passionate vocals from Bennett, who even lets out a spontaneous laugh toward the end of the song.
—Kristen S. Hé, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
As the sun sets, New York invites spontaneous adventures, from moonlit strolls in Central Park to late-night escapades in chic speakeasies.
—Sj Studio, Sourcing Journal, 25 Oct. 2024
In the meantime, perhaps a more modest version of this technology could help make AI girlfriends and boyfriends a bit more spontaneous and alluring.
—Will Knight, WIRED, 16 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near spontaneous
Cite this Entry
“Spontaneous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spontaneous. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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spontaneous
adjective
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spontaneous
adjective
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