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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rebellion
refusal to obey
the trainer was able to correct our dog's willfulness
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of willfulness
While this change reduces the explicit admission of willfulness, a narrative is still required.
—
Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willfulness
Noun
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Weaponized stubbornness Scoring is a straightforward concept, but success in this realm evaded Florida Saturday night.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
7 Sep. 2025
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Playing the character, much like Alicent Hightower in her stubbornness and strength, has been something of a purifying experience for Cooke.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As Pietro becomes more impatient with Gatti, hearing about Felice’s losing streak in his nightly phone calls home, Felice is prompted into his first, necessary act of rebellion against his father’s loving but stifling authority.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
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Although the political protests in Los Angeles included some violence, the judge reasoned that the violence did not rise to a rebellion and did not prevent a traditional police response.—
Luke William Hunt,
The Conversation,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
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While individual particles may be microscopic, their sheer numbers and persistence pose a long-term hazard.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Sep. 2025
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Other risks include data poisoning, context hijacking and large language model (LLM) memory persistence, where cached queries or context reuse could expose sensitive information to subsequent users.—
Camellia Chan,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Protesters took to the streets again in the capital Tuesday in defiance of a curfew imposed on the city center, and after the government lifted the social media ban.—
Sugam Pokharel,
CNN Money,
9 Sep. 2025
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But anger against the government showed no signs of abating, as protesters gathered in front of parliament and other places in the capital Kathmandu, in defiance of an indefinite curfew imposed by authorities.—
Gopal Sharma,
USA Today,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The collapse of 2023 was partly rooted in offensive obstinacy, stagnation and decline.—
Brooks Kubena,
New York Times,
23 July 2025
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This seemed to me to stem not from carelessness or spite but obstinacy.—
erin Khuê Ninh
June 17,
Literary Hub,
17 June 2025
Noun
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This element of female rebelliousness is very important to me.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Noun
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But also injuries and ailments at all the wrong times, as well as overt self-will at times.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
16 Feb. 2025
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So for those of us torn between watching the sun get blotted out and getting blotto keeping our attention on a particularly good rock show, this exercise in multi-tasking was a real contest of self-will.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
9 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Many individuals remain out of necessity, not due to willful disobedience , but because of sudden changes in personal or political circumstances—including armed conflict, economic collapse, or family emergencies.—
Andy J. Semotiuk,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
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Thanks to that act of disobedience, the document is now preserved at Fort Ligonier.—
Aurora Martínez,
Smithsonian Magazine,
18 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Willfulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willfulness. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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