willy-nilly
Something that happens willy-nilly is random or haphazard. If you put your clothes away willy-nilly, it'll take forever to find two matching socks.
This adverb is perfect for describing something done without any planning, like when the neighborhood kids grab instruments and parade willy-nilly up and down streets and through people's backyards. Willy-nilly comes from the obsolete phrase will I, nill I, or "I am willing, I am unwilling." The original definition, "whether one likes it or not," gradually evolved into today's meaning. Along the way, variations on willy-nilly included "nilly-willy," "willing, nilling," and "William nilliam."
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in a random mannersynonyms: arbitrarily, at random, every which way, haphazardly, indiscriminately, randomly
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without having a choice
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Vocabulary lists containing willy-nilly
As you read Jack London's "To Build a Fire," learn this word list. Here are links to lists for texts in Grade 11's Collection 5: To Build a Fire, The Jungle, Food Product Design, The Lowest Animal, Genesis of the Tenement, The Story of an Hour, The Fish
The author invites the young reader into the grueling experience of training for and running the Alaskan Iditarod dogsled race. It is a study in preparation, training, perseverance, learning from hardship and failure, teamwork, commitment, humility, and how to finish.
This nonfiction narrative focuses on the American naval officer Richard Evelyn Byrd, who was accompanied by his dog Igloo, as he explored both the North and South Poles in the mid-1920s.