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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Recent Examples of willfully
Under her tenure, the Department has lost centuries of professional experience, willfully violated federal law and judicial orders alike, while at the same time, hiding millions of documents linked to the Epstein files in a massive cover-up.
—
Dan Mangan, CNBC, 2 Apr. 2026
Overtopping its banks in flood, willfully changing its course, meandering without any regard for imaginary lines written across terrain, water presents a serious problem to those who police those imaginary lines.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 30 Mar. 2026
Knowledge in our day and age can at most be willfully ignored.
—Robert Pogue Harrison, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
Hayes was sentenced to six months of home confinement in May 2022 after pleading guilty to willfully failing to implement anti–money laundering controls at BitMEX—specifically, for allowing American customers to access the platform via VPNs while publicly claiming otherwise.
—Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026
The victorious Jazz may have actually bemoaned the result, having willfully sat a perfectly healthy Keyonte George late in the game in order to add another loss and better odds in the draft lottery.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2026
After an investigation, officials said the 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats to willfully cause great bodily harm.
—Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 6 Mar. 2026
But, ultimately, the movie has the form of mismatched pieces stitched together and brought to life more willfully than coherently.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
The perpetrators were not children, but knowledgeable adults who willfully chose to harass public servants.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
Dan Mangan, CNBC, 2 Apr. 2026
Overtopping its banks in flood, willfully changing its course, meandering without any regard for imaginary lines written across terrain, water presents a serious problem to those who police those imaginary lines.
—Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 30 Mar. 2026
Knowledge in our day and age can at most be willfully ignored.
—Robert Pogue Harrison, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026
Hayes was sentenced to six months of home confinement in May 2022 after pleading guilty to willfully failing to implement anti–money laundering controls at BitMEX—specifically, for allowing American customers to access the platform via VPNs while publicly claiming otherwise.
—Clara Molot, Vanity Fair, 17 Mar. 2026
The victorious Jazz may have actually bemoaned the result, having willfully sat a perfectly healthy Keyonte George late in the game in order to add another loss and better odds in the draft lottery.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 10 Mar. 2026
After an investigation, officials said the 18-year-old was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats to willfully cause great bodily harm.
—Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 6 Mar. 2026
But, ultimately, the movie has the form of mismatched pieces stitched together and brought to life more willfully than coherently.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
The perpetrators were not children, but knowledgeable adults who willfully chose to harass public servants.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 26 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willfully
Adverb
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Police said Ebert intentionally drove his car, struck the neighbor, and took off.—
Adam Thompson,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Mirman began his career in Hollywood as a stand-up comedian, known for his intellectual and often intentionally awkward style of comedy.—
Lori A Bashian,
FOXNews.com,
2 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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The central allegation in the Dallas County case is that Morris and Gateway Church benefitted financially from concealing the abuse of Clemishire, and that the church deliberately issued false statements about the circumstances after Clemishire came forward with the allegations.—
Lillie Davidson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
2 Apr. 2026
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The Lumières would remain comparatively grounded, sometimes working in what could be called actualities, other times in deliberately fictional sequences.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Willfully.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willfully. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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