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.

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

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