wilfulnessn.
/ˈwɪlf(ᵿ)lnəs/, U.S. /ˈwɪlfəlnəs/ 1.
a. The quality or character of being wilful; disposition to assert one's own will against reason, persuasion, etc.; determination to take one's own way; self-will, perversity, obstinacy, stubbornness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [noun] > wilfulness
willOE
wilfulnessc1200
wilfulshipc1200
own-willa1225
wilsomenessa1382
wilfulheadc1385
headiness1447
self-willa1450
self-willednessc1450
willerdoma1475
wilfulheadness1485
self-wilfulness1511
sensuality1536
headstrongness1598
self-williness1611
prodigity1623
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 75 Willfulnesse letteð þe mannes shrift, þat þincheð uuel þat man him wile neden his sinnes to forleten and fro þe deuel to gode turnen.
c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer Knight's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 2193 The contrarie of al this is wilfulnesse.
1412–20 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy i. 3661 Sith sche wrouȝt only of wilfulnes, With-oute conseil or avysenes.
1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xviii. 176 On this wis war thai nobill men Throu wilfulnes all losit then.
1547 Act 1 Edw. VI c. 3 §11 Yf theie refuse of willfulnes and stubbernes to worke.
1583 J. Whitgift in J. Strype Life J. Whitgift (1718) App. 67 Your Lordship further semith to burthen me with Wyllfulness... There ys a Difference betwixt Willfullness and Constancie.
1674 J. Owen Disc. Holy Spirit (1693) 238 A Child-like state, accompanied with, (1) Weakness. (2) Instability. And, (3) Wilfulness.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. vi. 113 That Obstinacy and Wilfulness, which renders Men so insensible to the Motives of Religion.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. ii. vi. 201 She could..contradict, with a pretty wilfulness, his most favourite dogmas.
1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows (1871) 98 To confound it [sc. Will] with its irritable and purposeless counterfeit Wilfulness.
b. (with plural) An instance of this, a wilful act.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [noun] > wilfulness > instance or act of
wilfulling1606
wilful1819
wilfulnessa1834
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Specimens of Table Talk (1835) II. 270 Whole volumes of Wordsworth's poems were formerly neglected..solely because of some few wilfulnesses, if I may so call them, of that great man.
1883 C. H. Spurgeon Illustr. & Medit. 221 The rebellions and wilfulnesses of mankind.
2. † a. Purpose, determination, resolution. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > resolution or determination > [noun]
willOE
businessa1387
wilfulnessc1386
restc1400
point1477
appointmenta1535
firmitude?1541
resoluteness?1560
resolve1592
resolution1594
constancy1603
resolvance1603
resolvedness1611
intensiona1619
determinateness1652
decisiveness1714
determinedness1747
decision1770
decidedness1800
setness1818
determinativeness1821
determination1822
virtu1876
the courage of one's convictions or opinions1878
self-determination1890
adamancy1898
drivenness1902
adamance1925
c1386 G. Chaucer Melibeus ⁋416 Thou shalt considere if thy myght and thy power may consenten and suffise to thy wilfulnesse and to thy conseillours.
1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. xii. 53 He..had slaine himselfe, had he not beene preuented by his friendes... He continued certaine daies after in this wilfulnesse to die.
1633 T. James Strange Voy. 18 In this wilfulnesse we continued till the 21.
b. Intentional character (of an act); the fact of being done on purpose.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > intention > [noun] > fact of being intended
advisementa1398
intentionality1611
studiedness1656
propenseness1672
intendedness1800
designedness1801
designfulness1867
wilfulness1876
directedness1922
1876 Mozley & Whiteley Law Dict. at Murder The deliberateness and wilfulness, or, as we prefer to call it, the intention, which constitutes the crime of murder.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > wish or inclination > willingness > [noun]
willOE
goodwilllOE
wilfulnessa1398
freenessc1400
freedoma1425
towardness1461
willingness1535
towardlinessa1569
fitness1604
inclinableness1608
lubency1623
pronenessa1640
libence1654
promptitude1712
allubescency1727
willinghood1841
unhesitatingness1876
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. xxxix. 1187 Þe wilfulnesse [of a horse] is yknowe if he is bolde of herte and swifte of feet.
1408–9 tr. Vegetius' De Re Milit. (Digby 233) lf. 185/1 Newe knyȝtes ben chosen not onlich by strengþe & myȝt of body bote also by lusti wilfulnesse to werre.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > [noun]
freedomeOE
free will1340
arbitryc1374
advisementa1398
freedom of will?c1400
liberty?c1400
wilfulnessc1460
liberal arbitre?1483
contingencec1530
indifferencya1555
contingency1561
freedom of thought1591
self-willingness1591
volunt1611
voluntariness1643
uncommandedness1646
autexousy1678
volency1686
inconditionality1696
unconditionalitya1714
indifference1728
volition1738
vacancy1754
voluntarity1794
autonomy1803
unconditionalness1843
unconditionedness1854
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > freedom of action or from restraint > [noun]
freedomOE
freenesslOE
libertya1393
licence?a1400
wilfulnessc1460
immunity1549
latitude1605
voluntariness1612
liberum arbitrium1642
free agencya1646
libertinism1649
unrestrainedness1698
unrestraint1755
relaxity1759
head1804
laissez-aller1818
unrestrictedness1825
uninhibitedness1947
c1460 R. Roos tr. La Belle Dame sans Mercy 628 Falshode is so full of cursydnesse, That highe worschip may never haue enterprise Where hit rayneth, and hath the wylfulnysse.
1501 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Earl of Eglinton (1885) 68 in Parl. Papers (C. 4575) XLIV. 1 [The lands should be redeemable..on payment of 700 merks if the marriage should fail] be dissent or wilfulnes of the said Jhonne or William his fader.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 289/1 Wylfulnesse, uoluntairete.
1553 J. Bradford Serm. Repentaunce sig. Bvij Suche workes as they nede not to doo, but of theyr owne voluntarynesse, and wylfulnesse (wylfulnesse in dede).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1924; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1200