involuntarily

English

Etymology

From involuntary +‎ -ly or in- +‎ voluntarily.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˌvɑlənˈtɛɹɪli/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɒləntɹɪli/
• Hyphenation: in‧vol‧un‧ta‧ri‧ly

Adverb

involuntarily (comparative more involuntarily, superlative most involuntarily)

1. In an involuntary manner; done without conscious thought.

   Her leg twitched involuntarily.

   He involuntarily overheard the conversation.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Last Letter”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 283:

     His eyes filled with tears, as he took up the glittering lengths. Their pale gold was lovely as ever; but there was something in the touch from which he involuntarily recoiled.

Translations

in an involuntary manner

• Catalan: involuntàriament
• Dutch: onwillekeurig (nl)
• Esperanto: nevole
• Finnish: vastoin tahtoaan, vastentahtoisesti, tahattomasti (fi), tahtomattaan
• French: involontairement (fr), sans le faire exprès
• Galician: involuntariamente (gl)
• Georgian: უნებლიეთ (unebliet)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἀκουσίως (akousíōs)

• Hungarian: önkéntelenül (hu), akaratlanul (hu)
• Italian: involontariamente (it)
• Polish: niechcący (pl), mimowolnie (pl), machinalnie (pl)
• Portuguese: involuntariamente (pt)
• Romanian: involuntar (ro)
• Russian: невольно (ru) (nevolʹno)
• Spanish: involuntariamente (es)

See also

• unwillingly

References

• “involuntarily”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “involuntarily”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.