volitional

From volition + -al.

• IPA^(key): /vəˈlɪʃənəl/, /vɒˈlɪʃənəl/

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volitional (comparative more volitional, superlative most volitional)

1. (not comparable, formal) Of or relating to the volition or will.
   • 1942, Olaf Stapledon, Darkness and the Light‎^[1], chapter 5, iii:

     Little by little the whole subject population of the world was fitted with the instruments of volitional control. The government was now practically omnipotent.

   • 1957, Leo Kanner, Child Psychology‎^[2], 3rd edition, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Part Two, Chapter 4, p. 42:

     Stern and Karl Bühler noticed independently that a child’s first “No” has a volitional meaning and that the significance as a simple denial of fact appears several months afterwards.

2. (comparable) Done by conscious, personal choice; not based on external principles; not accidental.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals to discovery.

   • 2016 July 28, Rebecca Mead, “The Power of ‘Love’ in Politics”, in The New Yorker:

     “Loving on” someone—whether he likes it or not—posits love as a volitional activity, an act not of passion but of will.

3. (grammar, not comparable, of an inflectional class or inflected form) Expressing intention, hortation, supposition, or inclusive invitation.

   Synonyms: conjectural, hortative, presumptive, tentative

• (done by conscious choice): deliberate, voluntary, see Thesaurus:intentional

volitional (plural volitionals) (grammar)

1. The volitional grammatical mood.
2. A form of a word inflected for the volitional mood; a volitional form.