Voluntold

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A person who is assigned to do something against their will, typically by an authority figure using social pressure rather than explicit force
2. A scenario in which an individual is appointed to undertake a duty they would not normally select, often imposed by an individual with authority or influence
3. An individual who is coerced into performing a task through social expectations rather than direct command typically experiences this phenomenon

Etymology: "Voluntold" is a blend of "volunteer" and "tell," and its meaning runs against the grain of its first half: you have been "volunteered" in name only, because the choice was made for you. The blend is built on "voluntell," which joins the two words in the sense "to order someone to do something," so the volunteering is ironic from the start. The result is a verb whose past form does the work. "Voluntell" becomes "voluntold" in the past tense and past participle, so a person who was told to take on a task they never asked for has been voluntold to do it. The joke depends on the reader hearing "volunteer" and then feeling the sting of "told."