Word.ws English Dictionary

with a will

UK/ˌwɪθ‿ə ˈwɪl/

with a will prepositional phrase: with willingness and zeal; with all one's heart or strength; earnestly, heartily.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (dated, idiomatic) With willingness and zeal; with all one's heart or strength; earnestly, heartily.
    • «Yes!» muttered the Rover, with bitter irony, as his boat rowed under the stern of the cruiser of the Crown; «yes! I, and my officers, will taste of your banquet! But the viands shall be such as these hirelings of the King shall little relish!—Pull with a will, my men, pull; in an hour, you shall...1827 November 27, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Red Rover, […], volume III, Paris: […] [Lachevardiere] for Hector Bossange, […], →OCLC, page 179
    • So Willy and I were wedded: I wore a lilac gown; / And the ringers rang with a will, and he gave the ringers a crown.1859 July 16, Alfred Tennyson, “The Grandmother”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], published 1864, →OCLC, stanza XV, page 121
    Synonyms:
    resolutely

Examples of with a will in a sentence

  • But the viands shall be such as these hirelings of the King shall little relish!—Pull with a will, my men, pull; in an hour, you shall rummage the store-rooms of that fool, for your reward!»1827 November 27, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter VIII, in The Red Rover, […], volume III, Paris: […] [Lachevardiere] for Hector Bossange...
  • And then the whole crew bore chorus:— / "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" / And at the third "ho!" drove the bars before them with a will.1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Voyage”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC...
  • Under the wide and starry sky, / Dig the grave and let me lie. / Glad did I live and gladly die, / And I laid me down with a will.1884 May (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Requiem”, in Underwoods, London: Chatto and Windus, […], published 1887, →OCLC, book I...
  • Jimmy took his part with a will; this was seeing life, at least.1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “After the Race”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 56:

Synonyms of with a will

Origin of with a will

From with + a + will (“firmity of purpose, fixity of intent”), originally often used to refer to rowing a boat vigorously.

Words that rhyme with with a will

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about with a will

What does with a will mean?
With a will means with willingness and zeal; with all one's heart or strength; earnestly, heartily.
How do you use with a will in a sentence?
But the viands shall be such as these hirelings of the King shall little relish!—Pull with a will, my men, pull; in an hour, you shall rummage the store-rooms of that fool, for your reward!»
What part of speech is with a will?
With a will is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce with a will?
With a will is pronounced /ˌwɪθ‿ə ˈwɪl/ (UK).

Words near with a will in the dictionary

  1. with a quickness
  2. with a thumb up one's bum
  3. with a vengeance
  4. with a view to
  5. with a wet finger
  6. with a will
  7. with ages
  8. with all due respect
  9. with all of one's heart
  10. with all one's ears
  11. with all one's eyes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: with a will (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-with a will.ogg.

Cite this entry: “with a will.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/with_a_will. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.