willy-nilly
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˌwɪliˈnɪli/
Adverb

willy-nilly

  1. Whether desired or not.
    • 1954, Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, Chatto & Windus, page 36:
      The outer world is what we wake up to every morning of our lives, is the place where, willy-nilly, we must try to make our living.
    • 1894, Thomas Hardy, Hearts Insurgent, in Harper's Magazine, Volume XC, Number 536, page 195:
      He says he shall come for me willy-nilly, and father and mother say I must have him!
  2. Without regard for consequences or the will of those affected.
    So people chasing money churn out novels willy-nilly.
  3. Seemingly at random, haphazardly
    The novel Alice in Wonderland describes a place where random things happen all willy-nilly.
Synonyms
  • nolens volens
Translations
  • French: bon gré mal gré
  • German: wohl oder übel; ob man will oder nicht; volens nolens
  • Portuguese: querendo ou não, queira ou não queira, obrigatoriamente
  • Russian: во́лей-нево́лей
  • Spanish: quiera o no quiera, quiérase o no, guste o no guste
Translations
  • German: wohl oder übel; ob man will oder nicht; nolens volens
  • Russian: тя́п-ля́п
  • Spanish: sea como sea
Translations
  • German: willkürlich , einfach so, wahllos, scheinbar zufällig
  • Italian: a casaccio
  • Portuguese: de qualquer maneira, de qualquer jeito
  • Russian: тя́п-ля́п
  • Spanish: de cualquier manera, a tontas y a locas
Adjective

willy-nilly

  1. vacillating



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