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Webster's New World College Dictionary » spontaneously
spontaneously
Variant of spontaneous
spontaneous
definition
spon·ta·neous (spän tā′nē əs)
adjective
- acting in accordance with or resulting from a natural feeling, impulse, or tendency, without any constraint, effort, or premeditation
- having no apparent external cause or influence; occurring or produced by its own energy, force, etc. or through internal causes; self-acting
- growing naturally without being planted or tended; indigenous; wild
Etymology: LL spontaneus < L sponte, of free will < IE base *(s)pen(d)-, to pull > spin
Related Forms:
- spontaneously spon·ta′·neous·ly adverb
- spontaneousness spon·ta′·neous·ness noun
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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