willing

• (adjective): Old English willende, present participle of willan
• (noun): Old English willung, from willian

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪlɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: will‧ing

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪlɪŋ

willing (comparative more willing, superlative most willing)

1. Ready to do something that is not (can't be expected as) a matter of course.

   If my boyfriend isn't willing to change his drinking habits, I will split up with him.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.

   • 2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:

     Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.

• agreeable, agreeing, consenting, voluntary; See also Thesaurus:acquiescent

• willing horse

willing (plural willings)

1. (rare or obsolete) The execution of a will.

willing

1. present participle of will

• willing in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• willing in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.