willy-nilly
Syllables: wil·ly-nil·lyUK/ˌwɪl.iːˈnɪl.iː//ˌwɪl.iˈnɪl.i/
willy-nilly adverb: whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected; whether willingly or unwillingly.
Adverb
willy-nilly (comparative more willy-nilly, superlative most willy-nilly)
- Whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected; whether willingly or unwillingly.
- Whenever I see a long handsome neck, willy nilly, the thought will come uppermost—What a capital neck for carving! Those cursed executions! One can't rid one's mind of them.1868, [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, translated by Arthur Duke Coleridge, Egmont. A Tragedy. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, act II, page 40
- [I]f you love him not, then you can love me, and, therefore, can come to please yourself, willy-nilly. What! am I to be thwarted in such a trifle? Willy-nilly, I say, I will marry thee. Come—we waste the time.1889, Walter Besant, “A Slight Thing at the Best”, in For Faith and Freedom […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 243
- Synonyms:
- nilly-willy, nolens volens
- Seemingly at random; haphazardly.
- The novel Alice in Wonderland describes a place where things happen willy-nilly.
- Some writers chasing money churn out novels willy-nilly.
Adjective
willy-nilly (comparative more willy-nilly, superlative most willy-nilly)
- That happens whether willingly or unwillingly.
- [S]omeone saw thy willy-nilly nun / Vying a tress against our golden fern.1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act V, scene v, page 129
- O my God, if man be only / A willy-nilly current of sensations— / Reaction needs must follow revel—yet— / Why feel remorse, he, knowing that he must have / Moved in the iron grooves of Destiny?1882, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Promise of May”, in Locksley Hall Sixty Years After etc., London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1886, →OCLC, Act II, page 119
- Synonyms:
- nilly-willy
- Seemingly random; haphazard; arbitrary.
willy-nilly meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Punjabi and Arabic
willy-nilly in Urdu
- چار و ناچار, خوامخواہ
willy-nilly in Malayalam
- haphazardly, at random, randomly
- മനസ്സില്ലാമനസ്സോടെ, ആസൂത്രണവും ദിശാബോധവുമില്ലാതെ, ചൊവ്വില്ലാതെ, ക്രമമില്ലാതെ, ചച്ചരപൊച്ചര, അലക്ഷ്യമായി
- whether one likes it or not, of necessity, like it or lump it
- ഇഷ്ടമുണ്ടെങ്കിലും ഇല്ലെങ്കിലും, ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടാലും ഇല്ലെങ്കിലും, ഇഷ്ടമായാലും ഇല്ലെങ്കിലും, നിർബ്ബന്ധപൂർവ്വം, മറ്റു പോംവഴിയില്ലാതെ, അനിവാര്യമായതുകൊണ്ട്
willy-nilly in Punjabi
- willy-nilly
- ਮਜਬੂਰਨ majbūran
willy-nilly in Arabic
- whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected
- طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا ṭawʕan ʔaw karhan, شاءَ مَن شاءَ وَأَبَى مَن أَبَى šāʔa man šāʔa waʔabā man ʔabā
Synonyms of willy-nilly
Forms of willy-nilly
| Adverb | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more willy-nilly |
| superlative | most willy-nilly |
| alternative form | willy nilly |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more willy-nilly |
| superlative | most willy-nilly |
Origin of willy-nilly
Literally, “Be one willing to, be one unwilling to”. From will I, nill I (“whether I want to or not”, with both verbs in the subjunctive), reflecting the old (viz. pre-Great Vowel Shift) pronunciation of I as ee, not yet as eye. Conflated with will he, nill he (with silent h) and will ye, nill ye (with yod dropping), meaning likewise “be he/you willing or not”. For more, refer to the individual component words: * will (“to desire, to wish, to be willing”) (archaic) * nill (“to not desire or wish, to be unwilling”) (obsolete) Compare Latin volens nolens, velim nōlim and English harum-scarum, which have this same meaning.
Words that rhyme with willy-nilly
Questions about willy-nilly
- What does willy-nilly mean?
- Willy-nilly means whether desired or not; without regard for consequences or wishes of those affected; whether willingly or unwillingly.
- What is willy-nilly in Urdu?
- Willy-nilly in Urdu is چار و ناچار, خوامخواہ. See Willy-nilly meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is willy-nilly?
- Willy-nilly can be an adverb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce willy-nilly?
- Willy-nilly is pronounced /ˌwɪl.iːˈnɪl.iː/ (UK).
Words near willy-nilly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: willy-nilly (page history and authors); willy-nilly (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); willy-nilly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ਮਜਬੂਰਨ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-willy-nilly.oga.
Cite this entry: “willy-nilly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/willy-nilly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.