SPONTANEOUS


Meaning of SPONTANEOUS in English

transcription, транскрипция: [ spän-ˈtā-nē-əs ]

adjective

Etymology: Late Latin spontaneus, from Latin sponte of one's free will, voluntarily

Date: 1653

1. : proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external constraint

2. : arising from a momentary impulse

3. : controlled and directed internally : self-acting

spontaneous movement characteristic of living things

4. : produced without being planted or without human labor : indigenous

5. : developing or occurring without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment

6. : not apparently contrived or manipulated : natural

• spon·ta·ne·ous·ly adverb

• spon·ta·ne·ous·ness noun

Synonyms:

spontaneous , impulsive , instinctive , automatic , mechanical mean acting or activated without deliberation. spontaneous implies lack of prompting and connotes naturalness

a spontaneous burst of applause

impulsive implies acting under stress of emotion or spirit of the moment

impulsive acts of violence

instinctive stresses action involving neither judgment nor will

blinking is an instinctive reaction

automatic implies action engaging neither the mind nor the emotions and connotes a predictable response

his denial was automatic

mechanical stresses the lifeless, often perfunctory character of the response

a mechanical teaching method

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate English vocabulary.      Энциклопедический словарь английского языка Merriam Webster.