spontaneously
Americanadverb
-
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.
-
in an impulsive way.
It was so cold the other night that I spontaneously booked a trip to Turks and Caicos.
-
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 Word Forms
- nonspontaneously adverb
- semispontaneously adverb
- subspontaneously adverb
- unspontaneously adverb
Etymology
Origin of spontaneously
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scattered orange California poppies, California Lilac with bright blue blooms, and hummingbird sage with dark rose-lilac-colored flowers spontaneously tell us what we already know: Spring has arrived.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
"We see how loyal they are, how passionate they are, the tattoos and all kinds of things that that have been going on spontaneously, not because of promotion or marketing."
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
He designs his gargantuan models spontaneously while working.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
She’s still addicted to that guitar, spontaneously singing the melody over the phone.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026
It feels like my dry skin will spontaneously combust.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.