willy-nilly

adverb or adjective

wil·​ly-nil·​ly ˌwi-lē-ˈni-lē 

1

: by compulsion : without choice

2

: in a haphazard or spontaneous manner

Synonyms

• aimlessly
• anyhow
• anyway
• anywise
• desultorily
• erratically
• haphazard
• haphazardly
• helter-skelter
• hit or miss
• irregularly
• randomly

Examples of willy-nilly in a Sentence

they were in a hurry, so they just tossed everything into the room willy-nilly, leaving it to be all sorted out later

Recent Examples on the Web

These are the people who, despairing of finding their way out honestly, simply smash and bash their way through the corn willy-nilly. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 19 Oct. 2024

What seems at first like willy-nilly playfulness is actually carefully ordered design inspired by the rule of thirds, a governing aesthetic principle of fine arts that subdivides a canvas or object into nine equal parts along two horizontal and two vertical lines. —Oren Hartov, Robb Report, 17 Oct. 2024

America First’s members thought the country was being sucked willy-nilly into a second World War, barely two decades after the first one ended in 1919. —Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 29 Sep. 2024

This is largely true of any Rolex model, and the confusion is largely the result of Rolex being an industrial juggernaut that used interchangeable parts willy-nilly without keeping records. —Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 26 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

alteration of will I nill I or will ye nill ye or will he nill he

First Known Use

1608, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

willy-nilly

adverb or adjective

wil·​ly-nil·​ly

ˌwil-ē-ˈnil-ē

1

: by force : without choice

rushed us along willy-nilly

2

: in an unpredictable manner

children running about willy–nilly

Etymology

an altered form of the phrase will I nill I or will ye nill ye; nill, an ancient negative form of will, from Old English nyllan, a combination of ne "not" and wyllan "to wish, will"