Citations:willy-nilly

English citations of willy-nilly

1. Whether desired or not; without regard for the consequences or the wishes of those affected; whether willingly or unwillingly.
   • 1948 August, Aldous Huxley, “The Script”, in Ape and Essence, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 154:

     And, while he sleeps, the indwelling Compassion preserves him, willy nilly, from the suicide which, in his waking hours, he has tried so frantically hard to commit.