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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of willfully
Last week, Mitchell pleaded guilty to five counts of willfully failing to pay income tax.
—
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Any creditor who willfully violates the stay can be liable for damages, attorney fees and costs, and also sometimes punitive damages.
—
Jay Adkisson,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2026
By denigrating the foundation of our democracy, Trump is willfully eroding it.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
25 June 2026
Following heated backlash, artist Helen Cammock has removed her video work from London’s National Portrait Gallery, which claims former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill willfully starved Indians during the 1943 Bengal famine, reports BBC.
—
Devorah Lauter,
ARTnews.com,
23 June 2026
O’Connor’s harrowing depictions of the effects of irresistible grace on the willfully self-damned aren’t everyone’s chalice of wine.
—
Spin Team,
SPIN,
22 June 2026
In his final February 2024 report, Hur found that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency, including reading classified information aloud to Zwonitzer and revealing sensitive military and foreign policy in Afghanistan.
—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2026
During courtroom breaks, the long line for the women’s room was a stark visual of the way this flood has ripped apart accusers and defenders of Camp Mystic—grieving mothers in lavender avoiding eye contact with willfully cheerful women in a green that now felt cloying, bordering on cruel.
—
Karen Valby,
Vanity Fair,
16 June 2026
To argue for a union was to willfully overlook the irreconcilable divisions between the states—slavery being the most obvious gulf.
—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
8 June 2026
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Any creditor who willfully violates the stay can be liable for damages, attorney fees and costs, and also sometimes punitive damages.
—
Jay Adkisson,
Forbes.com,
27 June 2026
By denigrating the foundation of our democracy, Trump is willfully eroding it.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
25 June 2026
Following heated backlash, artist Helen Cammock has removed her video work from London’s National Portrait Gallery, which claims former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill willfully starved Indians during the 1943 Bengal famine, reports BBC.
—
Devorah Lauter,
ARTnews.com,
23 June 2026
O’Connor’s harrowing depictions of the effects of irresistible grace on the willfully self-damned aren’t everyone’s chalice of wine.
—
Spin Team,
SPIN,
22 June 2026
In his final February 2024 report, Hur found that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency, including reading classified information aloud to Zwonitzer and revealing sensitive military and foreign policy in Afghanistan.
—
Emily Hallas,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2026
During courtroom breaks, the long line for the women’s room was a stark visual of the way this flood has ripped apart accusers and defenders of Camp Mystic—grieving mothers in lavender avoiding eye contact with willfully cheerful women in a green that now felt cloying, bordering on cruel.
—
Karen Valby,
Vanity Fair,
16 June 2026
To argue for a union was to willfully overlook the irreconcilable divisions between the states—slavery being the most obvious gulf.
—
Gal Beckerman,
The Atlantic,
8 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willfully
Adverb
-
Balogun stepped on an ankle of Muharemovic, apparently not intentionally.
-
Mujagić said the band intentionally shot the video low-budget.
Adverb
-
What isn’t measured is how much is entered that no human deliberately selected.
-
The highest number of fatal attacks, the study found, occurred after high-risk behaviors, including deliberately entering waterways known to contain alligators.
Cite this Entry
“Willfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willfully. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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