will

noun

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.

Firmity of purpose, fixity of intent

(law) A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.

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.

(American football) A weak-side linebacker.

(archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.

(archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)

verb

(auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.

(auxiliary) To choose or agree to (do something); used to express intention but without any temporal connotations, often in questions and negation.

(auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.

(auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).

(transitive) To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).

(transitive) To exert one's force of will (intention) in order to compel, or attempt to compel, something to happen or someone to do something.

(auxiliary) Expressing a present tense or perfect tense with some conditional or subjective weakening: "will turn out to", "must by inference".

(transitive, intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.

(now uncommon or literary, transitive) To wish, desire (something).

(now rare, intransitive) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).

(archaic) Implying will go.

Synonyms for will

wantv volitionn bequeathv testamentn needv wishv leavev desiren velleityn pleasev

Words related to will

willableadj shall should wouldst shouldst cann would mustn couldst could shaltv cannot intendsv mayn mightn bev ought canakin hopedv expectsv likelyadv expectedadj gonnav to hopefullyadv hopingv havev ableadj notadv wannav

Synonyms & related words for will

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of will — including want, volition, bequeath, testament, need, wish. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to will

Explore words related to will — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include willable, shall, should, wouldst, shouldst, can, would, must. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for will

Common synonyms for will include want, volition, bequeath, testament, need, wish, leave, desire — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.