freewill
freewill Lexical Profile
freewill Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Done, given, or made voluntarily and of one's own accord, without external compulsion or legal obligation (used especially of religious offerings or charitable donations).
"The parish relied on a freewill offering from the congregation to fund the restoration of the historic chapel."
• noun
The power or capacity of human beings to make choices and act independently of prior causal determinism or divine predestination; more commonly written as "free will".
"Philosophers have debated for centuries whether human freewill can truly coexist with an entirely deterministic universe."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a closed one-word compound, "freewill" is used primarily as an attributive adjective before a noun (as in "a freewill offering"), whereas the noun referring to philosophical agency or personal choice is much more commonly written as two words ("free will").
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in Middle English as a compound of "free" (from Old English freo) and "will" (from Old English willa), translating the Latin theological term liberum arbitrium.