spontaneous

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The Word of the Day for March 14 is: 

spontaneous   \spahn-TAY-nee-us\   adjective
    *1 : done, said, or produced freely and naturally
     2 : acting or taking place without apparent external cause 
or influence

Example sentence:
     Since childhood, Marie has been prone to spontaneous 
displays of affection.

Did you know?
     The earliest meaning of "spontaneous" in English 
was "voluntary or relating to free will," which gives us a hint 
about the origin of the word. It derives, via the Late 
Latin "spontaneus," from the Latin "sponte," meaning "of one's 
free will, voluntarily." "Spontaneous" first appeared in 
English in the mid-17th century; Thomas Hobbes used it in 1656 
when he said that "all voluntary actions ... are called also 
spontaneous, and said to be done by man's own accord" in his 
famous _The Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity, and 
Chance_. "Spontaneous" has since developed other meanings. 
Today, it is often applied to acts that come about very 
naturally and without prompting.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.