Wiktionary

wilful

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English wilful; equivalent to will +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈwɪlfʊl/, /ˈwɪlfəl/
  • Rhymes: -ɪlfəl
  • Hyphenation: wil‧ful

Adjective

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wilful (comparative more wilful or wilfuler or wilfuller, superlative most wilful or wilfulest or wilfullest) (British spelling)

  1. Intentional; deliberate.
    Synonyms: volitional, voluntary; see also Thesaurus:intentional
    • 2005, Irvin D. Yalom with Molyn Leszcz, The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, page 182:
      Knowingly or unknowingly, every therapist assumes that each client possesses the capacity to change through willful choice.
  2. Stubborn and determined.
    Synonyms: obstinate, self-willed, headstrong
    Troponyms: spiteful, malicious
    • 1893, Edwin Caskoden, When Knighthood Was in Flower, page 110:
      Mary had taken the whim into her willful head, and Jane could not dissuade her.
    • 1909, John M[illington] Synge, “Act I”, in Deirdre of the Sorrows: A Play, Churchtown: Cuala Press, published 1910, page 5:
      Let you not be taking it bad, Conchubor, but you’ll get little good seeing her this night, for with all my talking it’s wilfuler she’s growing these two months or three.
    • 1910, W[illiam] D[ean] Howells, chapter I, in My Mark Twain: Reminiscences and Criticisms, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, part first (Memories), page 5:
      He was a youth to the end of his days, the heart of a boy with the head of a sage; the heart of a good boy, or a bad boy, but always a wilful boy, and wilfulest to show himself out at every time for just the boy he was.
    • 1995, Francine Rivers, As Sure as the Dawn, page 232:
      "He's as willful as you," Rizpah said. "If you let him hurt himself again, so help me, I'll — "
    • 2007, Roger K. Thomas, Kinshu: Autumn Brocade, translation of original by Teru Miyamoto, page 136:
      You had a pampered upbringing, and possessed enough of a willful streak that I wanted to slap you at times

Derived terms

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Translations

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