Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

12 MODAL You use will in the main clause of some 'if' and 'unless' sentences to indicate something that you consider to be fairly likely to happen. □  If you overcook the pancakes they will be difficult to roll.

13 MODAL You use will to say that someone insists on behaving or doing something in a particular way and you cannot change them. You emphasize will when you use it in this way. □  He will leave his socks lying all over the place and it drives me mad.

14 MODAL You use will have with a past participle when you are saying that you are fairly certain that something will be true by a particular time in the future. □  As many as ten million children will have been infected by the end of the decade.

15 MODAL You use will have with a past participle to indicate that you are fairly sure that something is the case. □  The holiday will have done him the world of good.

➋ will ◆◆◇ /w I l/ (wills , willing , willed )

1 N‑VAR [oft N to-inf] Will is the determination to do something. □  He was said to have lost his will to live. □  …the inevitable battle of wills as your child realises that he can't have everything he wants.

2 → see also free will

3 N‑SING [with poss] If something is the will of a person or group of people with authority, they want it to happen. □ [+ of ] Democracy responds and adjusts to the will of the people.

4 VERB If you will something to happen, you try to make it happen by using mental effort rather than physical effort. □ [V n to-inf] I looked at the phone, willing it to ring.

5 N‑COUNT A will is a document in which you declare what you want to happen to your money and property when you die. □  Attached to his will was a letter he had written just days before his death.

6 PHRASE If something is done against your will , it is done even though you do not want it to be done. □  No doubt he was forced to leave his family against his will.

7 PHRASE If you can do something at will , you can do it when you want and as much as you want. □  …scientists who can adjust their experiments at will.

will|ful /w I lfʊl/ → see wilful

wil|lie /w I li/ → see willy

will|ing ◆◆◇ /w I l I ŋ/

1 ADJ If someone is willing to do something, they are fairly happy about doing it and will do it if they are asked or required to do it. □  The military now say they're willing to hold talks with the political parties. □  There are, of course, questions which she will not be willing to answer.

2 ADJ [usu ADJ n] Willing is used to describe someone who does something fairly enthusiastically and because they want to do it rather than because they are forced to do it. □  Have the party on a Saturday, when you can get your partner and other willing adults to help.

3God willing → see god

will-o'-the-wisp /w I l ə ðə w I sp/ (will-o'-the-wisps ) N‑COUNT [usu sing] You can refer to someone or something that keeps disappearing or that is impossible to catch or reach as a will-o'-the-wisp .

wil|low /w I loʊ/ (willows ) N‑VAR A willow or a willow tree is a type of tree with long branches and long narrow leaves that grows near water. ● N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Willow is the wood of this tree. □  …willow furniture.

wil|lowy /w I loʊi/ ADJ A person who is willowy is tall, thin, and graceful.

will|power /w I lpaʊə ^r / also will-power , will power N‑UNCOUNT Willpower is a very strong determination to do something. □  His attempts to stop smoking by willpower alone failed.

wil|ly /w I li/ (willies ) also willie N‑COUNT A boy's or man's willy is his penis. [BRIT , INFORMAL ]

willy-nilly /w I li n I li/ also willy nilly