Meanings
comparative more well-willing · superlative most well-willing
- Wishing well; well-inclined; favourable; friendly; propitious.
This is rational life's first, simplest, most natural longing when at rest: to be always and all-ways good as wholly well-willing for ever—which is essentially good-will's as it is love's self-generated and self-resting thought—for ever and ever !
1900, The Irish ecclesiastical record, page 39
Origin
- Old Englishwelwillende“well-wishing, benevolent, kindly, good”
- Middle Englishwelewillynge
- Englishwell-willing
From Middle English welewillynge, welwillende, from Old English welwillende (“well-wishing, benevolent, kindly, good”), equivalent to well + willing.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
well-willing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well-willing
“well-willing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well-willing. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “well-willing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/well-willing.
Source: well-willing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.