spontaneously

[ spon-tey-nee-uhs-lee ]

adverb

1. naturally, without premeditation, prompting, or planning:

   The author recounts how a fully-fledged exchange market economy emerged spontaneously in his POW camp.

   These answers were given spontaneously to an open-ended question that did not offer response options.

2. in an impulsive way:

   It was so cold the other night that I spontaneously booked a trip to Turks and Caicos.

3. by a natural process or from an internal force or cause:

   A calf should normally stand spontaneously within 60–90 minutes of its birth.

   The symptoms resolved spontaneously within 6 months of onset.

Other Words From

• non·spon·ta·ne·ous·ly adverb
• sem·i·spon·ta·ne·ous·ly adverb
• sub·spon·ta·ne·ous·ly adverb
• un·spon·ta·ne·ous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of spontaneously¹

spontaneous ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

“We did as we were told, and when we sat on the front steps Liza spontaneously burst into song with ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow.’

From Salon

Then spontaneously one Christmas, while his partner was away visiting family, he went out and bought a pack of bloodhounds.

From BBC

Acute infections normally clear up spontaneously in patients with an intact immune system.

From Science Daily

“Electric vehicles are statistically less likely to catch fire spontaneously than an internal combustion engine vehicle.”

From Los Angeles Times

In his written submissions to the IPT, Mr Weatherby said: "The perpetrators were not unknowns who acted spontaneously or with a simplicity which gave little room for discovery."

From BBC

Related Words

• automatically
• immediately
• unconsciously