Word.ws English Dictionary

wilsome

wilsome adjective: willful; obstinate; stubborn.

Adjective (1)

wilsome (comparative more wilsome, superlative most wilsome)

  1. (UK, dialectal) Willful; obstinate; stubborn.
    • "You won't be able to prevail with her, when once she's set upon a thing; " observed Matty. "She was always a wilsome child and now she's a wilful woman; and 'a wilfu' woman,' as the North people say, 'maun hae her ain way.' Ay, you was always a wilsome child, true enough; but as winsome as...1875 [1854], Mary Cowden Clarke, The Iron Cousin; Or, Mutual Influence, D. Appleton and Company, page 443
  2. (UK, dialectal) Loved; desirable; amiable.
  3. (UK, dialectal) Fat; indolent.

Adjective (2)

wilsome (comparative more wilsome, superlative most wilsome)

  1. (UK, dialectal) Wandering; devious.
  2. (UK, dialectal) Doubtful; uncertain.

Forms of wilsome

comparativemore wilsome
superlativemost wilsome

Origin of wilsome

From Middle English wilsom, equivalent to will (“desire”) + -some.

From Middle English wilsum, wilsom, wildsom, probably after Old Norse villusamr (“erroneous, false”), equivalent to will (“wild”) + -some. Cognate with Scots wilsum (“treacherous, wandering”).

Words formed from wilsome

Questions about wilsome

What does wilsome mean?
Wilsome means willful; obstinate; stubborn.
What part of speech is wilsome?
Wilsome is an adjective.

Words near wilsome in the dictionary

  1. Wilsford cum Lake
  2. Wilshamstead
  3. Wilshere
  4. Wilshire
  5. Wilshire Center
  6. wilsome
  7. wilsomely
  8. wilsomeness
  9. Wilson
  10. Wilson chamber
  11. Wilson chambers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wilsome (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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