Dictionary

wilfully en · ADV

Pronunciation

• /ˈwɪlfəli/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Old English wilfullīċe, corresponding to wilful + -ly.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Willingly, of one's own free will.
   • Why then dost thou, O man, that of them all / Art Lord, and eke of nature Soueraine, / Wilfully make thy selfe a wretched thrall [...]? 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
   • […]wilfully and comptly commit[…] 1581, An Abstract of all the penal Statutes ... Collected by Fardinando Pulton, etc. B.L., England, page 227:
2. Deliberately, on purpose.

Forms

Relateds

maliciously