Synonyms of willfulness

willfulness

noun

1

as in stubbornness

a steadfast adherence to an opinion, purpose, or course of action in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion

her unceasing willfulness eventually wore down her critics and opponents

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stubbornness
• persistence
• obstinacy
• self-will
• persistency
• pigheadedness
• intransigence
• doggedness
• obduracy
• determination
• resolve
• bullheadedness
• pertinacity
• hardheadedness
• obdurateness
• defiance
• perversity
• mulishness
• rebelliousness
• waywardness
• steadfastness
• tenacity
• obstinateness
• perverseness
• wrongheadedness
• perseverance
• opinionatedness
• self-opinionatedness
• inflexibility
• implacability
• single-mindedness
• pertinaciousness
• adamancy
• tenaciousness
• sternness
• inexorability
• strictness
• inveteracy
• relentlessness
• rigidity
• disobedience
• hardness
• rigidness
• cantankerousness
• contumacy
• contrariness
• firmness
• cussedness
• recalcitrance
• stick-to-itiveness
• narrow-mindedness
• rigorousness
• anal-retentiveness
• insubordination
• intractability
• unruliness
• bloody-mindedness
• rigor
• immovability
• refractoriness
• frowardness
• balkiness
• recalcitrancy
• obstreperousness
• immovableness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• reasonableness
• acquiescence
• receptivity
• acceptance
• flexibility
• reasonability
• receptiveness
• compliance
• obedience
• pliancy
• subordination
• pliability
• willingness
• docility
• surrender
• open-mindedness
• broad-mindedness
• submission
• yielding
• subservience
• slavishness
• pliableness
• subserviency
• pliantness
• subordinateness

2

as in rebellion

refusal to obey

the trainer was able to correct our dog's willfulness

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebellion
• defiance
• rebelliousness
• disobedience
• contrariness
• disrespect
• waywardness
• contumacy
• insubordination
• recalcitrance
• rudeness
• intractability
• unruliness
• refractoriness
• stubbornness
• frowardness
• noncooperation
• balkiness
• obstreperousness
• obstinacy
• perversity
• self-will
• tenacity
• civil disobedience
• inconsiderateness
• pigheadedness
• doggedness
• obduracy
• insolence
• impudence
• inconsideration
• pertinacity
• peevishness
• impoliteness
• tenaciousness
• mischievousness
• naughtiness
• hardheadedness
• ungraciousness
• impertinence
• knavery
• discourteousness
• obdurateness
• obstinateness
• mulishness
• pertinaciousness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• obedience
• compliance
• subordination
• submission
• tractability
• amiability
• amenability
• subservience
• submissiveness
• agreeability
• slavishness
• subserviency
• deference
• tractableness
• subordinateness
• docility
• trainability
• dutifulness

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of willfulness

Those leaders who ignore or flout the law aren’t merely unethical but fatally arrogant, putting their childish willfulness over the wisdom of generations. — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026

Though the Durutti Column had been a disaster, Wilson was fascinated by the guitarist, who admired punk’s willfulness even though his own musical taste tended toward jazz, blues, and the classical tradition. — Brad Shoup, Pitchfork, 24 Jan. 2026

The orphan’s predicament is as much a matter of willfulness as of survival—inseparable, as in the works of Charles Dickens, from a dream of being somehow rescued by the idea of an adult world. — Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025

While this change reduces the explicit admission of willfulness, a narrative is still required. — Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

Christian Science doesn’t demand blind faith and willfulness but a willingness to surrender to this higher truth. — Matthew Schmidt, Christian Science Monitor, 21 Jan. 2025