Volition

WORD OF THE DAY

volition / noun / voh-LISH-un

Definition
1a: the power of choosing or determining
1b: will
2a: an act of making a choice or decision
2b: a choice or decision made

Example
“A year ago, Naomi Osaka left the French Open of her own volition, never beaten on the court but determining that she needed to pull out before the second round to stand up for herself and protect her mind more than she needed to do whatever she could to win matches.”
— Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press, 23 May 2022

And the records show that the informant traveled to Washington at his own volition, not at the request of the F.B.I.
— New York Times, 25 Sep. 2021

Did You Know?
When you do something of your own volition, you do it voluntarily, which makes sense—both volition and voluntary ultimately come from the Latin velle, meaning “to wish” or “to will.”
English speakers borrowed volition from French in the 17th century, using it at first to mean “an act of choosing,” a meaning Herman Melville employed in Moby-Dick (1851): “Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea.”
By then, however, the word had also developed an additional meaning, “the power to choose,” which is now more common.