as in randomly
without definite aim, direction, rule, or method
they were in a hurry, so they just tossed everything into the room willy-nilly, leaving it to be all sorted out later
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of willy-nilly
However, while willy-nilly scrubbing is ill-advised, there is more than one way to clean stainless steel.
—
Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 9 Nov. 2025
Surtain, the reigning defensive player of the year, does not lather such compliments upon wideouts willy-nilly.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 12 Sep. 2025
Walter Sam believes in the magical power of accurately wielding words as well as the bad juju that comes with spouting them all willy-nilly.
—Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Many therapists are already willy-nilly entering data about clients and patients into off-the-shelf publicly available LLMs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willy-nilly
Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 9 Nov. 2025
Surtain, the reigning defensive player of the year, does not lather such compliments upon wideouts willy-nilly.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 12 Sep. 2025
Walter Sam believes in the magical power of accurately wielding words as well as the bad juju that comes with spouting them all willy-nilly.
—Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Many therapists are already willy-nilly entering data about clients and patients into off-the-shelf publicly available LLMs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willy-nilly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willy-nilly
randomly
Adverb
-
Students apply for it in their junior year, and are tasked with randomly choosing a decade to design head-turning fashion.—
Chris Wragge,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Police said the man who was critically injured appeared to be targeted at random, and investigators were looking into whether the two women killed were targeted randomly.—
Holly Yan,
CNN Money,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Willy-nilly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willy-nilly. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
