WILLFULLY Synonyms: 30 Similar and Opposite Words

willfully

adverb

Definition of willfully

as in intentionally

with full awareness of what one is doing willfully chose to risk pneumonia by jumping into a freezing lake on a dare

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of willfully Understandably, Penn struggles to hold these disparate points of focus together with a performance that vacillates between disarmingly dopey and almost willfully ignorant of the realities of the 2000s media landscape. — Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 17 Oct. 2026 Her writing carries a distinctly evolved candor, which is saying something for someone as willfully exposed as Chinouriri. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2026 The 36-year-old Carroll was arrested in February and charged with 20 counts of knowingly and willfully causing another to ingest bodily fluid, plus three counts of malicious destruction of property. — Bryan Lynn, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026 The whole set-up is willfully exaggerated but also looks like the sort of makeshift studio that actually existed in 1927 when the play is set. — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 Oct. 2026 She was accused of willfully violating a Presidential Executive Order, the orders of the DHS Secretary, circumventing leadership, and frustrating the will of the American people. — Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 13 Oct. 2026 Sutskever is the moral center of the film and grows increasingly uncomfortable as Altman forges ahead with complicated AI models that have learned how to lie, willfully ignoring risks. — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 5 Oct. 2026 Yet three successive Democratic presidential campaigns willfully ignored these flashing sirens, instead insisting that Green New Deals and diversity, equity and inclusion programs would appeal to working-class Latino men. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026 Clinton Roosevelt Dale, 51, is charged with 12 counts of willfully preparing false tax returns for clients and laundering money through his business, Blue Bear Tax Solutions, federal officials said in a news release Tuesday. — Katie Langford, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for willfully

Adverb

The center’s name intentionally evokes both scale and possibility.

— Sarah Belmont for ArtNews, Robb Report, 14 Oct. 2026
The commission would have to hold three public hearings and could not make changes that intentionally favor a political party or unnecessarily divide communities.

— Shaun Boyd, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of intentionally

Adverb

God seems deliberately to have created variety and cognitive function in the human species.

— Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Oct. 2026
Investigators were trying to determine Wednesday whether the robot's actions were deliberately controlled by two young men who apparently livestreamed the incident in the western city of Cologne on social media.

— October 14, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of deliberately

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willful

willfully

willfulness

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“Willfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willfully. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of willfully

adverb

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