The doctrine that human beings are free to control their own actions, and that these actions are not fixed in advance by God or fate. Some Jewish and Christian theologians assert that God gave humanity free will to choose between good and evil; others that God has decided in advance the outcome of all human choices (predestination), as in Calvinism.
1. The freedom or ability to choose.
2. The power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies; SYN. discretion.