will
Meanings
- Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.
- To be able to, to have the capacity to.
- Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".
- To habitually do (a given action).
- To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.
- To wish, desire (something).
- To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
- Implying will go.
- One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
- The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
- One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
- Firmness of purpose, fixity of intent
- A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
- That which is desired; one's wish.
- Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
- To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.
- To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).
- To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.
- A diminutive of the male given name William or, less often, other given names beginning with Wil-, such as Wilfred or Willard, from the Germanic languages; also used as a formal given name.
- A surname originating as a patronymic.
- A weak-side linebacker.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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).