willingly

English

Etymology

From Middle English willyngly, wyllyngly (“intentionally, deliverately; freely, gladly”), from Old English willendlīċe (“diligently”), equivalent to willing +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪlɪŋli/
• Hyphenation: will‧ing‧ly

• Audio (US):

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Adverb

willingly (comparative more willingly, superlative most willingly)

1. Of one’s own free will; freely and spontaneously.
   • 1748, [David Hume], chapter 29, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     Now this is a process of the mind or thought, of which I would willingly know the foundation.

   • 1958 January, 'Borderer', “Ten Years of British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 12:

     In the first place, although many people wanted nationalisation and it became the will of Parliament, there were many other people who did not want it, have never willingly accepted it, and never will.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:willingly.

Synonyms

• gladly, happily

Antonyms

• unwillingly

Translations

of one’s own free will — see also with pleasure,‎ volitionally,‎ volitively

Arabic: طَوْعًا m (ṭawʕan), طَوَاعِيَةً f (ṭawāʕiyatan) Asturian: d'alcuerdu Bulgarian: охо́тно (bg) (ohótno) Catalan: gustosament (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 樂意 / 乐意 (zh) (lèyì) Dutch: graag (nl), willens (nl) Esperanto: volonte (eo) Finnish: vapaaehtoisesti (fi) French: volontiers (fr) Galician: boamente German: gern (de), gerne (de) Greek: πρόθυμα (el) (próthyma) Hungarian: szívesen (hu) Icelandic: fúslega Italian: volentieri (it), con piacere, di buongrado, di buon grado Japanese: 進んで (ja) (すすんで, susunde) Korean: 기꺼이 (ko) (gikkeoi) Latin: libenter Mansi: Northern Mansi: ка̄сасым (kāsasym), таӈхим (taňhim) Ngazidja Comorian: ha hiari Norman: dé bouôn tchoeu Plautdietsch: wellens Portuguese: de boa vontade Romanian: de bunăvoie Russian: охо́тно (ru) (oxótno) Serbo-Croatian: својевољно (svȍjevōljno) Spanish: de buena gana, gustosamente (es), a solaz, de gana, buenamente (es) Swedish: gärna (sv), frivilligt (sv) Turkish: can atarak, isteyerek Ukrainian: охо́че (uk) (oxóče) Venetan: bolincera (vec) Vietnamese: sẵn lòng (vi) Volapük: vilöfo (vo)