Thesaurus
Synonyms and Antonyms of willful
- a particularly willful horse that took weeks to break to saddle
adamant, adamantine, dogged, hardheaded, headstrong, immovable, implacable, inflexible, mulish, negativistic, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, peevish, pertinacious, pigheaded, rigid, self-willed, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding
fractious, restive, uncontrollable, unmanageable, wild
perverse, resistant, wrongheaded
bad, disorderly, errant, misbehaving, mischievous, monkeying, monkeyish, naughty
discourteous, disrespectful, ill-bred, ill-mannered, ill-natured, impertinent, impolite, impudent, inconsiderate, insolent, ornery, rude, uncivil, uncouth, ungracious, unmannerly
- finally the parents sought professional counseling for the willful child
- a willful disregard for the rights of others
arrogant, commanding, demanding, dominant, domineering, haughty, imperative, lordly, masterful, overbearing, presumptuous
authoritarian, autocratic (also autocratical), despotic, totalitarian, tyrannical (also tyrannic), tyrannous
capricious, changeable, erratic, inconsistent, mercurial, whimsical
biased, inequitable, partisan, prejudiced, unequal, unfair, unjust, unrealistic, unreasonable
- a willful attempt to cheat her siblings out of their rightful inheritance
- the kind of willful person who can never bring himself to admit that he made a mistake
adamant, adamantine, bullheaded, dogged, hard, hard-nosed, hardened, hardheaded, headstrong, immovable, implacable, inconvincible, inflexible, intransigent, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, ossified, pat, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, self-opinionated, self-willed, stiff-necked, stubborn, unbending, uncompromising, unrelenting, unyielding
determined, hell-bent, inexorable, persistent, relentless, resolved, set, single-minded, steadfast, stouthearted, tenacious, unflinching
firm, hard-line, hard-shell (or hard-shelled), iron, severe, stern, strict
hidebound, narrow-minded, rigid
bloody-minded [chiefly British], cantankerous
contumacious, disobedient, froward, insubordinate, intractable, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, ungovernable, unmanageable, unruly
indomitable, invincible, unconquerable
Synonym Discussion of willful
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- unruly children
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- ungovernable rage
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- intractable opponents of the hazardous-waste dump
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- special schools for refractory children
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- acts of sabotage by a recalcitrant populace
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- a willful disregard for the rights of others
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- a headstrong young cavalry officer
Learn More about willful
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See words that rhyme with willful Dictionary: Definition of willful Spanish Central: Translation of willful Nglish: Translation of willful for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of willful for Arabic speakers
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