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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adv. Whether desired or not: After her boss fell sick, she willy-nilly found herself directing the project.
  2. adv. Without order or plan; haphazardly.
  3. adj. Being or occurring whether desired or not: willy-nilly cooperation.
  4. adj. Disordered; haphazard: willy-nilly zoning laws.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Will he or will he not; will ye or will ye not; willing or unwilling. See nill, will
  2. Vacillating; shilly-shallying.
  3. Also nilly-willy.

Wiktionary

  1. adv. alternative spelling of willy nilly.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adv. without having a choice
  2. adv. in a random manner

Etymologies

  1. Alteration of will ye (or he), nill ye (or he), be you (or he) willing, be you (or he) unwilling.

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘willy-nilly’.

Comments

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  • madmouth will he, nill he is a commonly cited antecedent to this phrase, but there's also will I, nill I:

    Will I, nill I, the ineffable thing has tied me to him; tows me with a cable I have no knife to cut.

    Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman Jun 4, 2009

  • catkisses Reminds me of that old Peter Pan play "I'll send for Tiger Lily! And I'll Send for Peter Pan, we'll be there Willy Nilly!" Sep 4, 2008

  • oroboros Alternate definition: adj., impotent. --Mensa word list winner 2006 Mar 2, 2007

‘willy-nilly’ has been looked up 1290 times, loved by 5 people, added to 19 lists, commented on 3 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.