spontaneity

English

Etymology

From Latin spontaneus (“voluntary”). Compare French spontanéité.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɒn.tə.neɪ.ə.ti/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

spontaneity (countable and uncountable, plural spontaneities)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being spontaneous.
2. (countable) Spontaneous behaviour.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Third Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

     Romney Leigh, who lives by diagrams, / And crosses out the spontaneities / Of all his individual, personal life / With formal universals.

3. (biology) The tendency to undergo change, characteristic of both animal and vegetable organisms, and not restrained or checked by the environment.
4. (biology) The tendency to activity of muscular tissue, including the voluntary muscles, when in a state of healthful vigour and refreshment.

Synonyms

• (quality of being spontaneous): abruptness, spontaneousness; see also Thesaurus:suddenness

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “quality of being spontaneous”): discipline

Related terms

• spontaneous

Translations

the quality of being spontaneous

• Asturian: espontaneidá f
• Catalan: espontaneïtat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自發性／自发性 (zh) (zìfāxìng)

• Czech: spontánnost f
• Danish: spontanitet c
• Esperanto: spontaneco
• Finnish: spontaanisuus (fi)
• French: spontanéité (fr) f
• Galician: espontaneidade (gl) f
• German: Spontaneität (de) f, Spontanität (de) f (rarer)
• Greek: αυθορμητισμός (el) m (afthormitismós)
• Ido: spontaneso (io)
• Italian: spontaneità (it) f
• Japanese: 自発性 (じはつせい, jihatsusei)
• Korean: 자발성 (ko) (jabalseong)
• Latin: spontāneitās f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spontanitet m

  Nynorsk: spontanitet m

• Polish: spontaniczność (pl) f
• Portuguese: espontaneidade (pt) f
• Romanian: spontaneitate (ro) f
• Russian: спонта́нность (ru) f (spontánnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: spȍntānōst (sh) f, спо̏нта̄но̄ст f
• Spanish: espontaneidad (es) f
• Swedish: spontanitet (sv)
• Volapük: libavil (vo)

spontaneous behaviour

• Bulgarian: спонта́нност f (spontánnost)
• Czech: spontánnost f
• German: Laune (de) f
• Greek: αυθορμητισμός (el) m (afthormitismós)
• Hungarian: spontaneitás (hu)
• Russian: спонта́нность (ru) f (spontánnostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: spȍntānōst (sh) f, спо̏нта̄но̄ст f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} Spontaneità f

Further reading

• “spontaneity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “spontaneity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “spontaneity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.