spontaneous

adjectivecommon in dialogue

United Kingdom//spɒnˈteɪ.ni.əs//
United States//spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs//

Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse.

adjective

1
Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse.
He made a spontaneous offer of help.
Lady Bertram agreed to it all with a calm “Yes”; and at the end of a quarter of an hour’s silent consideration spontaneously observed, “Sir Thomas, I have been thinking—and I am very glad we took Fanny as we did, for now the others are away we feel the good of it.”
2
Done by one's own free choice, or without planning.
YSL, as he is often called, is equally capable of casual, aristocratic cruelty and earthy, spontaneous tenderness, and when you study his face it can be hard to distinguish boredom from rapture.
3
Controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things.
4
Produced without being planted or without human cultivation or labor.
He persisted in his design; and, because he would not make his wants known, actually subsisted for several days on hips, haws and sloes, and other spontaneous fruits which he gathered in the woods and fields.
5
Sudden, without warning.
6
Said or done without prior planning or prior writing.
He made a spontaneous remarks in the court.

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin sponte Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Indo-European *-éyos Proto-Italic *-ejos Proto-Italic *-eos Latin -eus Latin -āneus Late Latin spontāneuslbor. English spontaneous Learned borrowing from Late Latin spontāneus.

Forms

comparative: more spontaneous
superlative: most spontaneous

sponge · Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera,…sponsor · A person or organization with some sort of responsibility for…sponsored · Financially supported by a sponsor.

spontaneous · Self-directed; happening or acting without external cause or instigation; proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or momentary impulse.

spontaneously · In a spontaneous manner; naturally; voluntarily.spook · A ghost or phantom.spooked · A little scared; worried by a feeling or event. Describing…

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.