Wilful
['wɪlfʊl;-f(ə)l] or ['wɪlfl]
Definition
(n.) Alt. of Wilfulness
Editor: Warren
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [Written also Willful.] Obstinate, stubborn, perverse, contumacious, refractory, headstrong, unruly, intractable, mulish, dogged, inflexible, heady, self-willed, PIG-HEADED, obdurate, cantankerous.
Typist: Oliver
Examples
- You are desperate, full of fancies, and wilful; and you misunderstand. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- I only hear of you in town as active and wilful, quick to originate, hasty to lead, but slow to persuade, and hard to bend. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- It was not the bad manners of ignorance; it was the wilful bad manners arising from deep offence. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- You know how wilful your poor, misery-stricken sister is. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Occasionally he recognizes the wilful character of politics: then he shakes his head, climbs into an ivory tower and deplores the moonshine, the religious manias and the passions of the mob. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- All that I had ever seen in him of an unyielding, wilful spirit, I saw in her. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I arrest you for the wilful murder of Mr. Jonas Oldacre, of Lower Norwood. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- And this, this conjunction with her, which was his highest fulfilment also, with the perverseness of a wilful child he wanted to deny. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Take any action allowed to be vicious: Wilful murder, for instance. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Nothing was so wilful as Shirley when she took a whim into her head. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Mr. Hale was in exactly that stage of apprehension which, in men of his stamp, takes the shape of wilful blindness. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Because rationality itself is a wilful exercise one hears Hymns to Reason and sees it personified as an extremely dignified goddess. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I deceive none but the weak and the wilful. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- This amounts to saying that man when he is most creative is not a rational, but a wilful animal. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The men like Nietzsche and James who show the wilful origin of creeds are in reality the best watchers of the citadel of truth. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The coroner's jury brought in the obvious Wilful Murder, but the parties remained as unknown as ever. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Then is she kind and cruel, stately and unassuming, various, beautifully wilful. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Young boys, when they comes to your age, is wilful, sometimes--it is natur they should be. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Perhaps she had followed the current of my mind; for it seemed to me an easy one to track now, wilful as it had been once. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Some people are predominantly eager and wilful. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In this cosey state of mind we came to the verdict Wilful Murder. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- I have only to add, that the verdict at the Coroner's Inquest was Wilful Murder against some person, or persons, unknown. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- It was wilful at the time, repented of afterwards. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- The democratic experiment is the only one that requires this wilful humanistic culture. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I see nothing in it but your own wilful ignorance and the malice of Mr. Darcy. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- He quitted the room when Bella had said this, relenting in her wilful inconsistent way. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Typist: Oliver