# spontaneous

> English word · Adjective · IPA /spɒnˈteɪ.ni.əs/ · frequency rank #11,124

## Definitions
1. Self-generated; happening without any apparent external cause.
2. Done by one's own free choice, or without planning.
3. Proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external or conscious constraint.
4. Arising from a momentary impulse.
5. Controlled and directed internally; self-active; spontaneous movement characteristic of living things.
6. Produced without being planted or without human cultivation or labor.
7. Sudden, without warning.
8. Said or done without prior planning or prior writing.

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Late Latin spontāneus.

## Easily confused with
- **spontaneously** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spontaneous-vs-spontaneously)

## Common misspellings (16)
`psontaneous`, `sopntaneous`, `spnotaneous`, `sponatneous`, `sponntaneous`, `spontaenous`, `spontaneosu`, `spontaneouss`, `spontaneuos`, `spontanneous`, `spontanoeus`, `spontnaeous`, `sponttaneous`, `spotnaneous`, `sppontaneous`, `sspontaneous`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/spontaneous