Voluntarism
n.kind, resilientformal
What it means
Reliance on free choice and voluntary community action.
Reach for it when describing reliance on free choice and voluntary community action
Local voluntarism kept the winter shelter staffed each night.
Choose between these
5- playful
grassroots action
change begins with ordinary people locally
not when Grassroots action may be political and not voluntary service.
- everyday
community self-help
local people solve practical problems together
not when Self-help can obscure structural duties and funding.
- warm
people meet shared needs reciprocally
not when Mutual aid rejects donor-recipient hierarchy more explicitly.
- professional
civic initiative
residents organize action without waiting for officials
not when Civic initiative can involve paid public work.
- professional
voluntary action
unpaid freely chosen activity is the direct subject
not when The phrase names behavior rather than a social principle.
Said against
3- compulsion
- state mandate
- coercion
It naturally appears in
3- tradition of voluntarism
A tradition of voluntarism keeps the village hall active.
- local voluntarism
Local voluntarism supplied meals while public funding was restored.
- limits of voluntarism
The report names the limits of voluntarism in providing essential care.
Where this comes from
Voluntarism can strengthen community power but should not be used to replace reliable public provision or paid labor.
- Wiktionary, English noun, principle of voluntary action sense opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.