Definition

1. Noun:

   • A legal document: A formal, written declaration of a person's wishes regarding the distribution of their property and assets after their death.
   • The mental faculty of conscious choice and intention: The power of the mind to make deliberate decisions and to direct one's own actions.
   • A strong, fixed purpose or determination: A firm intention or desire to achieve something.

2. Verb (transitive):

   • To leave (property) to someone by a legal will: To bequeath or give something to a person through the instructions in one's last will and testament.
   • To intend or desire something to happen through the power of one's mind: To cause or attempt to cause something to happen by deliberate mental effort or intention.
   • To decree or ordain (often in a theological or formal context): To command or determine that something shall be or happen.

Usage and Examples

• Noun (Legal Document):

  • She wrote her will to ensure her children would inherit the family home.
  • The lawyer read the deceased man's last will and testament to the family.

• Noun (Determination/Purpose):

  • He succeeded through hard work and sheer force of will.
  • Where there's a will, there's a way. (This idiom means that strong determination leads to solutions.)

• Verb (To Bequeath):

  • Her grandmother willed the antique jewelry collection to her.
  • The old man willed his entire estate to charity.

• Verb (To Intend or Desire by Mental Effort):

  • She willed herself to stay calm during the crisis.
  • He willed the ball into the goal with all his concentration.

Advanced Usage

• "At will": Whenever or however one wishes; freely.
  • The security pass allows you to enter the building at will.
• "With a will": With great enthusiasm and determination.
  • They set to work with a will to finish the project on time.
• "Against one's will": Not voluntarily; unwillingly.
  • He felt he was participating in the plan against his will.

Variants and Related Words

• Willpower (n): The strength of will to carry out one's decisions, wishes, or plans.
  • It takes great willpower to quit a bad habit.
• Willing (adj): Ready, eager, or prepared to do something.
  • She was willing to help.
• Willful (adj, chiefly US) / Wilful (adj, chiefly UK):
  • Deliberate and intentional.

    • That was a willful act of disobedience.
  • Stubborn and determined to have one's own way.

    • a willful child

Synonyms

• Noun (Determination): Determination, resolve, volition, purpose, drive.
• Noun (Document): Testament, last testament.
• Verb (To Bequeath): Bequeath, leave, hand down.
• Verb (To Intend): Desire, intend, wish, decree.

Phrasal Verbs / Related Constructions

• Will something into existence/being: To cause something to happen or become real through intense desire or mental effort.
  • The entrepreneur willed her startup into existence through relentless effort.

Idioms

• "Where there's a will, there's a way": Strong determination will find a method to succeed.
• "A will of one's own": A strong tendency to be independent and make one's own decisions.
  • Even as a toddler, she had a will of her own.
• "Free will": The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to make choices independently.
  • Do humans truly have free will, or are our actions predetermined?

Noun

1. a legal document declaring a person's wishes regarding the disposal of their property when they die
2. a fixed and persistent intent or purpose
   • where there's a will there's a way
3. the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
   • the exercise of their volition we construe as revolt- George Meredith

Verb

1. leave or give by will after one's death
   • My aunt bequeathed me all her jewelry
   • My grandfather left me his entire estate
2. determine by choice
   • This action was willed and intended
3. decree or ordain
   • God wills our existence