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
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Recent Examples of willy-nilly
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
If two divorced women can attend a party, then women will start divorcing willy-nilly.
—Alice Burton, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for 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
If two divorced women can attend a party, then women will start divorcing willy-nilly.
—Alice Burton, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willy-nilly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willy-nilly
randomly
Adverb
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This is the first evidence that this quark-gluon plasma reacts to particles speeding through it in the same way that liquid does, splashing and rippling, acting as a single unified liquid rather than randomly scattering as individual particles would.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
30 Jan. 2026
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After being randomly split into two groups, they are tasked with creating a dessert that is centered around flavor profiles that test one of the four tastes—sweet, salty, sour, or bitter—combined with a specific texture.—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
30 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Willy-nilly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willy-nilly. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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