wilfully

W4I1L1F4U1L1L1Y4
UK/ˈwɪlfəli/

adverb

Willingly, of one's own free will.

Similar
willfully
OriginOld English wilfullīċe →
UncommonScrabble 17
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Meanings

adverbwilfully (comparative more wilfully, superlative most wilfully)

comparative more wilfully · superlative most wilfully · alternative US willfully

  1. obsoleteWillingly, of one's own free will.

    […]wilfully and comptly commit[…]

    1581, An Abstract of all the penal Statutes ... Collected by Fardinando Pulton, etc. B.L., England, page 227
    1 more example

    Why then dost thou, O man, that of them all / Art Lord, and eke of nature Soueraine, / Wilfully make thy selfe a wretched thrall [...]?

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  2. Deliberately, on purpose.

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbin a willful manner

Similar
willfully
Also see
purposefullypurposely

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Old Englishwilfullīċe
  2. Englishwilfully

From Old English wilfullīċe, corresponding to wilful + -ly.

More words from Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

wilfully. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilfully

MLA

“wilfully.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilfully. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wilfully,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilfully.

Source: wilfully on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.