will
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: law
Etymology: From Middle English willen, wullen, wollen, from Old English willan (“to want”), from Proto-West Germanic *willjan, from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, wish”).
Cognates
Cognate with Yola ill, weel, well, will, woul, wull (“will”), North Frisian wale, wel (“to want”), Saterland Frisian and West Frisian wolle (“to want”), Alemannic German and Central Franconian welle (“to want”), Cimbrian béllan, bölln (“to want”), Dutch willen (“to want”), German wollen (“to want”), Low German wüllen (“to want; will”), Luxembourgish wëllen (“to want”), Yiddish וועלן (veln, “to want”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ville (“to want”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish vilja (“to want”), Jamtish vili (“to want; wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk vilja, vilje (“want; will”), Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wiljan, “to want”); also Latin velle (“wish”, verb), voleō, volo (“to please, to wish; to want”), French vouloir (“to want”), Italian volere (“to want”), Irish fleá, fleadh (“feast”), Scottish Gaelic fleadh (“feast”), Welsh gwledd (“banquet, feast”), Lithuanian viltis (“to hope; to rely; to expect”), Czech velet (“to command”), volit (“to choose; to elect”), Polish woleć (“to prefer”), Russian во́ля (vólja, “freedom”), во́льный (vólʹnyj, “free”), веле́ть (velétʹ, “to command, to enjoin, to order”), Ukrainian воля (volja, “freedom, liberty, will”), вільний (vilʹnyj, “free”), веліти (velity, “to will, to order, to command”), воліти (volity, “to will, to prefer”), Old Armenian գեղձ (gełj, “desire, wish”), Sanskrit वृणीते (vṛṇīte), वृणोति (vṛṇoti, “to choose”). The verb is not always distinguishable from Etymology 3, below.
(indicating future action): Compare typologically Bulgarian ще (šte), Macedonian ќе (ḱe), Serbo-Croatian хтети (< Proto-Slavic *xotěti).
Inflected forms:
form: will
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: willing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: would
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: will
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: will
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: would
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: will
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: wilt
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: willst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: willest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: would
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: wouldst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: wouldest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: will
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: would
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: will
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: would
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: will
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: would
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: -
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: 'll
pos: verb
tags: alternative
contraction
form: vill
pos: verb
tags: alternative
pronunciation-spelling
form: weel
pos: verb
tags: alternative
pronunciation-spelling
form: wil
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: wille
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: woll
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: wyll
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: wills
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: wille
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
no-past-participle
examples: Do not forget, will you?
Will you be doing the shopping this evening? If so, will you do mine too, please?
Won't you have another glass of wine? — No, I think I’ll go to bed.
Can somebody lend me a hand? — I will.
I'm going to quit smoking. I really will!
The President will arrive at 10.00 — Will she be wanting lunch?
If you will come this way, I’ll show you your bedroom.
I said I’d help, and help I will.
If your sis won’t be here on Thu, we’d better cancel the booking. — I will pray that she arrives on time.
That'll be £69.99, please. Last for ever this pair of jeans sure will.
This breakthrough will mean that we spend less on the electricity bill.
We'll finish ours sooner than you (do/will).
Dad, will you take me to the park? Will you, please? — Will you be quiet! I'm on the phone.
I'll hold that for you, shall I?
If my plans change, I will let you know.
If we don't go now, I will be late for my class.
They will've forgotten what I look like by now.
The baby will surely have green eyes, because both parents have.
If you bring your tents, we will all camp on the coast.
Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink and paper : as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for’t.
“I will, with your leave, relate to you, miss, the story of one of our customers.”
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.
gloss: To be able to, to have the capacity to.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
no-past-participle
examples: Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.
gloss: Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
no-past-participle
examples: He will be home by now. He always gets home before 6 o'clock.
I can't find my umbrella. I will've left it at home this morning.
I’ll kill anybody who touches my car.
“That will be five zloty.” I reached into my pocket and came up with some coins.
Unless she diverted on the ten minute walk home, she’ll have got home at about half past.
gloss: To habitually do (a given action).
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
no-past-participle
examples: Boys will be boys.
People will talk.
I will fall in love with the wrong women time and again.
The shapes of clouds will often remind us of animals.
Most nights I'll read a little before going to sleep.
But which of you hauing a seruant plowing, or feeding cattell, will say vnto him by & by when he is come from the field, Goe and sit downe to meate? And will not rather say vnto him, Make ready wherewith I may suppe, and gird thy selfe, and serue me, till I haue eaten and drunken: and afterward thou shalt eate and drinke.
As young men will, I did my best to appear suave and sophisticated.
How telling is it that many women will volunteer for temporary disablement by wearing high heeled shoes that hobble them?
So far neither side has scored a decisive victory, though each will occasionally claim one.
gloss: To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
no-past-participle
examples: Will you marry me?
What will you drink?
I’ve told him three times, but he won’t take his medicine.
gloss: To wish, desire (something).
pos: verb
tags: literary
no-past-participle
transitive
uncommon
examples: Do what you will.
God willed it.
If thou wilt fare well at meat and meal, come and follow me.
Twelfe Night, Or what you will (original spelling)
And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt.
gloss: To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
no-past-participle
examples: Consider, if you will, the possibility that the sherry glasses were misplaced accidentally.
the disciples cam to Jesus sayinge unto hym: where wylt thou that we prepare for the to eate the ester lambe?
see God's goodwill toward men, hear how generally his grace is proposed, to him, and him, and them, each man in particular, and to all. 1 Tim. ii. 4. "God will that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
gloss: Implying will go.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
no-past-participle
examples: I’ll to England.
gloss: One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
pos: noun
examples: Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.
gloss: The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
pos: noun
examples: Most creatures have a will to live.
The father chose the name and could change it later at his will.
The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters).
gloss: One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
pos: noun
examples: Eventually I submitted to my parents' will.
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.
gloss: Firmness of purpose, fixity of intent
pos: noun
examples: Thus Mill’s case for the claim that happiness is the sole human end, put more carefully, is this: ‘Whatever is desired otherwise than as a means to some end beyond itself, and ultimately to happiness, is desired as itself a part of happiness, and is not desired for itself until has become so’ (1861a: 237). Nothing here assumed Hume’s view that every action must ultimately flow from an underived desire. That is a quite separate issue, and Mill’s view of it is closer to that of Kant or Reid than to that of Hume. He insists ‘positively and emphatically’ that the will is a different thing from desire; that a person of confirmed virtue, or any other person whose purposes are fixed, carries out his purposes without any thought of the pleasure he has in contemplating them, or expects to derive from their fulfilment. (1861a: 238) This distinction between purpose and desire is central to Mill’s conception of the will. When we develop purposes we can will against mere likings or aversions: ‘In the case of an habitual purpose, instead of willing the thing because we desire it, we often desire it only because we will it’ (1861a: 238). Every action is caused by a motive, but not every motive is a liking or aversion: When the will is said to be determined by motives, a motive does not mean always, or solely, the anticipation of a pleasure or of a pain…. A habit of willing is commonly called a purpose; and among the causes of our volitions, and of the actions which flow from them, must be reckoned not only likings and aversions, but also purposes. (1843: 842) The formation of purposes from desires is the evolution of will; it is also the development of character. Mill quotes Novalis: ‘a character is a completely fashioned will’ (1843: 843).
...surely the link could not have been with Churchill the brilliant, gallant and steadfast wartime leader who, by dint of character, will and language, turned near defeat into victory.
gloss: A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
pos: noun
examples: “Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will, I mean?”
gloss: That which is desired; one's wish.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: I auow by this most sacred head / Of my deare foster child, to ease thy griefe, / And win thy will [...].
gloss: Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Derived words: accidents will happen
accidents will happen in the best regulated families
a drowning man will clutch at a straw
a hit dog will holler
boys will be boys
build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
butter will not melt in someone's mouth
by their fruits you will know them
cooler heads will prevail
cool heads will prevail
even a worm will turn
faith will move mountains
five will get you ten
give someone an inch and someone will take a mile
heads will roll
if you lie with dogs you will get fleas
if you will
in this essay I will
I will yeah
kids will be kids
longways for as many as will
murder will out
one will know the reason why
only time will tell
saner heads will prevail
spare the rod and you will spoil the child
take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
ten will get you twenty
that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee
that will do
the poor we will always have with us
there are none so blind as those who will not see
the revolution will not be televised
the sky will fall on your head
the terrorists will have won
throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick
time alone will tell
time will tell
too much pudding will choke a dog
truth will out
what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh
when the cat's away the mice will play
who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl
will call
will do
will the real someone please stand up
will-they-won't-they
will you marry me
you will own nothing and be happy
against someone's will
at will
bend someone's will
bend to one's will
bend to someone's will
come-o'-will
declaration of will
employment at will
fire at will
force of will
free will
free will theorem
goodwill
holographic will
ill will
joint will
living will
military will
mirror will
mutual will
nuncupative will
pick-at-will
pour-over will
self-will
strength of will
tenant at will
well-will
where there is a will there is a way
wilful
willful
will contest
will contract
will-force
will-less
will-maker
willpower
will to power
with a will
Translations:
lang: Armenian
word: ցանկանալ
roman: cʻankanal
lang: Bulgarian
word: искам
roman: iskam
lang: Bulgarian
word: желая
roman: želaja
lang: Catalan
word: desitjar
lang: Cornish
word: mynnes
lang: Dutch
word: willen
lang: Esperanto
word: voli
lang: Finnish
word: aikoa
lang: French
word: vouloir
lang: German
word: wollen
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἐθέλω
roman: ethélō
lang: Ancient Greek
word: θέλω
roman: thélō
lang: Ancient Greek
word: βούλομαι
roman: boúlomai
lang: Hindi
word: आशा
roman: āśā
lang: Hindi
word: इच्छा
roman: icchā
lang: Hindi
word: कामना
roman: kāmnā
lang: Hindi
word: चाह
roman: cāh
lang: Hungarian
word: akar
lang: Hungarian
word: kíván
lang: Hungarian
word: óhajt
lang: Hungarian
word: rendel
lang: Italian
word: volere
lang: Japanese
word: 望む
roman: nozomu
lang: Japanese
word: 希望する
roman: kibō suru
lang: Japanese
word: 願う
roman: negau
lang: Macedonian
word: посакува
roman: posakuva
lang: Macedonian
word: посака
roman: posaka
lang: Macedonian
word: пожелува
roman: poželuva
lang: Macedonian
word: пожели
roman: poželi
lang: Norwegian
word: ville
lang: Portuguese
word: desejar
lang: Russian
word: жела́ть
roman: želátʹ
lang: Russian
word: пожела́ть
roman: poželátʹ
lang: Spanish
word: desear
lang: Spanish
word: anhelar
lang: Swedish
word: vilja
lang: Turkish
word: istek
lang: Arabic
word: رح or حـ
roman: raḥ
lang: Arabic
word: رح or حـ
roman: raḥ
lang: Tunisian Arabic
word: باش
roman: bēš
lang: Belizean Creole
word: wahn
lang: Bulgarian
word: ще
roman: šte
lang: Burmese
word: နောင်
roman: naung
lang: Burmese
word: မည်
roman: many
lang: Burmese
word: အံ့
roman: am.
lang: Catalan
word: anar
lang: Chinese Cantonese
word: 會 /会
roman: wui⁵, wui³
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 將 /将
roman: jiāng
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 要
roman: yào
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 將要 /将要
roman: jiāngyào
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 會 /会
roman: huì
lang: Danish
word: vil
lang: Danish
word: skal
lang: Dutch
word: zullen
lang: Esperanto
word: -os Use the future tense
lang: Estonian
word: hakkama
lang: Estonian
word: saama
lang: Finnish
word: tulla
lang: Finnish
word: aikoa
lang: French
word: -ras
lang: French
word: -ra
lang: French
word: -rons
lang: French
word: -rez
lang: French
word: -ront
lang: French
word: aller
lang: West-Frisian
word: sille
lang: West-Frisian
word: gean
lang: German
word: werden
lang: German
word: present tense form is often used
lang: Hebrew
word: עָתִיד
roman: 'atíd
lang: Hindi
word: होंगे
roman: hoṅge
lang: Hungarian
word: fog
lang: Indonesian
word: akan
lang: Isoko
word: ti
lang: Italian
word: -rai
lang: Italian
word: -rà
lang: Italian
word: -remo
lang: Italian
word: -rete
lang: Italian
word: -ranno
lang: Khmer
word: នឹង
roman: nɨng
lang: Koasati
word: -laho̱
lang: Korean
word: -을 것이다
roman: -eul geosida
lang: Korean
word: -ㄹ 것이다
roman: -l geosida
lang: Korean
word: -을게
roman: -eulge
lang: Korean
word: -ㄹ게
roman: -lge
lang: Korean
word: -겠-
roman: -get-
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: dê
lang: Northern Kurdish
word: ê
lang: Lao
word: ຈະ
roman: cha
lang: Lao
word: ຈິ
roman: chi
lang: Lao
word: ຊິ
roman: si
lang: Lao
word: ຈັກ
roman: chak
lang: Luxembourgish
word: wäerten
lang: Macedonian
word: ќе
roman: ḱe
lang: Malay
word: akan
lang: Navajo
word: dooleeł
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: vil
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: kommer til å
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: skal
lang: Nǀuu
word: si
lang: Old English
word: willan
lang: Old English
word: sċulan
lang: Iranian Persian
word: خواسْتَن
roman: xâstan
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: хтети
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: хтјети
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: hteti
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: htjeti
lang: Slovene
word: biti
lang: Spanish
word: future tense
lang: Spanish
word: ir a
lang: Swahili
word: -ta-
lang: Swedish
word: komma till att
lang: Swedish
word: komma att
lang: Swedish
word: skola
lang: Swedish
word: vilja
lang: Swedish
word: tänka
lang: Thai
word: จะ
roman: jà
lang: Ukrainian
word: special endings
lang: Vietnamese
word: sẽ
lang: Yapese
word: ra
lang: Yiddish
word: וועלן
roman: veln