Meanings
- uncountableThe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition.
This Marian principle indicates that women ought to divest themselves of self-will in order to be obedient to the word of God as articulated by male spokesmen.
2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21
Synonyms & antonyms
nounresolute adherence to your own ideas or desires
nounthe trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*selbawiljô“self-will”
- Proto-West Germanic*selbawilljō
- Old Englishsylfwill
- Middle Englishself-wil
- Englishself-will
From Middle English self-wil, self-wille, from Old English sylfwill, selfwill, selfwille (“self-will”), from Proto-West Germanic *selbawilljō, from Proto-Germanic *selbawiljô (“self-will”), equivalent to self- + will. Cognate with Old High German selbwillo, selpwillo, Old Norse sjalfvili.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian своеволие
- своеволие (svoevolie)the quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
Esperanto memvolo
- memvolothe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
German Eigensinn, Eigenwille
- Eigensinnthe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
- Eigenwillethe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
Romanian încăpățânare
- încăpățânarethe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
Spanish voluntad propia
- voluntad propiathe quality of being willful and ignoring opposition
Cite this entry
self-will. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-will
“self-will.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-will. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-will,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-will.
Source: self-will on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.