self-will

English

Etymology

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.

Noun

self-will (uncountable)

1. The quality of being willful and ignoring opposition.
   • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎, volume 182, number 21:

     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.

Related terms

• self-willed
• self-willedly
• self-willedness

Translations

the quality of being willful and ignoring opposition

Bulgarian: своеволие (bg) n (svoevolie) Esperanto: memvolo German: Eigensinn (de) m, Eigenwille m Plautdietsch: Ieejensenn m Romanian: încăpățânare (ro) f Spanish: voluntad propia f