VOLITION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does volition mean? 

• VOLITION (noun)
  The noun VOLITION has 2 senses:

1. the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention

2. the act of making a choice

  Familiarity information: VOLITION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VOLITION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The capability of conscious choice and decision and intention

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

volition; will

Context example:

the exercise of their volition we construe as revolt

Hypernyms ("volition" is a kind of...):

faculty; mental faculty; module (one of the inherent cognitive or perceptual powers of the mind)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "volition"):

velleity (volition in its weakest form)

Derivation:

volitional (with deliberate intention)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of making a choice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

volition; willing

Context example:

followed my father of my own volition

Hypernyms ("volition" is a kind of...):

choice; option; pick; selection (the act of choosing or selecting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "volition"):

intention (an act of intending; a volition that you intend to carry out)

Derivation:

volitional (with deliberate intention)

 Context examples 

The Count, even if he takes the form of a bat, cannot cross the running water of his own volition, and so cannot leave the ship.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was only an inch to lean, and it was accomplished without volition on her part.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Without volition I leaned toward her, as a tree is swayed by the wind.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In this state, the waiter's dismal intelligence about the ships immediately connected itself, without any effort of my volition, with my uneasiness about Ham.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As the impetus that carried Cherokee forward died down, he continued to go forward of his own volition, in a swift, bow-legged run.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

In the horrid pain and surprise of the moment—I scarce can say it was by my own volition, and I am sure it was without a conscious aim—both my pistols went off, and both escaped out of my hands.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

At such times you go by my volition and not by his; and this power to good of you and others, as you have won from your suffering at his hands.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)