Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Said or done on purpose; deliberate. See Synonyms at voluntary.
- adj. Obstinately bent on having one's own way.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. etc. See wilful, etc.
Wiktionary
- adj. Done in a manner which was intended.
- adj. Intentional.
- adj. Stubborn.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of set purpose; self-determined; voluntary.
- adj. Governed by the will without yielding to reason; obstinate; perverse; inflexible; stubborn; refractory.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. done by design
- adj. habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition
Etymologies
- will + -ful (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Adrian Sanders, a Liberal Democrat MP, asked James Murdoch if he was familiar with the term "willful blindness," a legal term referring to executives who purposefully hide behind the excuse of not knowing.”
“Are you familiar with the term 'willful blindness?' asked Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders.”
USA Today: News Corp execs don't admit role in phone hacking
“During last week's hearing, James Murdoch was asked if he was familiar with the term "willful blindness," which was used to describe the behavior of senior executives at Enron who averted their eyes from wrongdoing.”
“During last week's hearing, James Murdoch was asked if he was familiar with the term "willful blindness," which was used to describe the behavior of senior executives at Enron, who allegedly averted their eyes from wrongdoing.”
“Murray - announced that they were going to flesh out the original by changing dialogue, adding back stories, and having a new, more upbeat ending, Stephen Sondheim got so angry he wrote to the New York Times attacking what he called willful ignorance and arrogance.”
“Congressman Rush Holt, D-New Jersey, Thursday accused the Pentagon of what he called "willful blindness" in not acting faster to identify and correct the problems and fully report them.”
“The meaning of the word "willful" is notoriously murky see, e.g., the multitudinous Supreme Court cases over the word, so the statute would be improved by using a more detailed synonym.”
“Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience.”
“In studying the video, my political side would like to believe Murdoch's performance on Tuesday was all hubris topped off by an "old man act" in the name of willful denial.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Shaw: Reading the Pictures: Murdoch Testimony: Missing a Few Marbles?
“How many of you have ever heard of progressives shooting up a place, or making death threats publicly, or indulging in willful violence, all in the name of liberty?”
Think Progress » Utah state senator wants to create holiday honoring ‘gun pioneer’ on MLK Day.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘willful’.
-
Dominant/Submissive
single-minded, self-seeking, vain, territorial, stubborn, self-possessed, unwary, self-important, rigid, relentless, resolute, purposeful and 189 more...
-
3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
-
3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
-
SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
-
chibiryuu's Words
sugary, amalgam, zaftig, incommensurability, isomorphism, fold, awesome, cute, hack, dichotomy, pyrrhic, bifurcate and 89 more...
-
Words Covered in Faery Dust (W)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
wail, waistcoat, wales, wallflower, wand, wandering, wanderlust, waning, ward, wardrobe, warp, wassail and 97 more...
-
just words.
coquette, solecism, peripherally, recrudescence, viscid, turpitude, sententious, light-heeled, interminably, unflappable, palpably, solicitous and 215 more...
-
Vocab #8
avid, cajole, rudimentary, enhance, nuance, insolent, pretentious, ample, willful, abhor
-
adjectives
sartorial, saucy, wieldy, wuthering, dilapidated, rough-and-ready, flabbergasted, ravishing, seminal, snooty, galore, scrumptious and 386 more...
-
ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
-
Norman Lewis
All Words
ebullient, eccentric, eclectic, edify, efface, effusion, egalitarian, egocentric, egoist, egregious, elicit, elliptical and 907 more...
-
Improve understanding and depth
Zealous;willful;wanton;volition;volatile;
vociferous;vocation;avocation;vitriolic;
vitiate;visionary;virulent;virtuoso;
vindictive;vindicate;vilify;vicissitude;
vicarious;vi...Zealous, willful, wanton, volition, volatile, vociferous, vocation, avocation, vitriolic, vitiate, visionary, virulent and 14 more...
-
quite a handful.
this girl has fire.
firebrand, spitfire, firecracker, rebel, insurrectionist, zealot, maverick, misfit, dreamer, agitator, instigator, inciter and 27 more...
-
legal words
inchoate, incarceration, judgment, sentence, attempt, finding, imprisonment, due process, certification, probable cause, abnormality, whereas and 59 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for willful.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.