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
But that doesn’t negate what is already happening in other parts of the economy, where the Administration is intervening willy-nilly, dispensing money and favors, and expanding its reach at a pace that’s hard to keep up with.
—
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 10 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
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 10 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
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Hand says that a couple of errors that can make randomly occurring patterns look deceptively connected.—
Faye Flam,
Scientific American,
7 May 2026
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The trial, funded by Moderna, included more than 40,000 adults ages 50 and up who were randomly assigned to get the mRNA vaccine or one of four standard flu shots during the 2024–2025 flu season.—
Berkeley Lovelace Jr,
NBC news,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Willy-nilly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willy-nilly. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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