free will
noun
free and independent choice; voluntary decision: You took on the responsibility of your own free will.
Philosophy. the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.
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Words nearby free will
Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for free will
British Dictionary definitions for free will
free will
noun
- the apparent human ability to make choices that are not externally determined
- the doctrine that such human freedom of choice is not illusoryCompare determinism (def. 1)
- (as modifier)a free-will decision
the ability to make a choice without coercionhe left of his own free will: I did not influence him
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for free will
free will
The ability to choose, think, and act voluntarily. For many philosophers, to believe in free will is to believe that human beings can be the authors of their own actions and to reject the idea that human actions are determined by external conditions or fate. (See determinism, fatalism, and predestination.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.