spontaneity

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)

(uncountable) The quality of being spontaneous.
- 2025 January 30, Tessa Solomon, “AI Art Lacking ‘Human Expression’ Cannot Be Copyrighted, US Officials Say”, in ARTnews‎:
  The unpredictability of Gemini was then contrasted with examples of human spontaneity, like the splatter technique of Jackson Pollock.
(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.
(biology) The tendency to undergo change, characteristic of both animal and vegetable organisms, and not restrained or checked by the environment.
(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