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will

WIL/wɪl/

Formswill, willing, would, willed

13 meanings of will

Practice

  1. 1
    futureverbauxiliary
    Auxiliary of the future tense ('will you be home for dinner?'), in the first person sometimes with a note of intention or determination ('I will').

    The shop will open at nine.

    We will not give up.

    Similarshall

    Note

    Wanting came before predicting: Old English willan meant 'to want', and 'I will go' carried intention before it became a plain forecast. That older color still shows in the first person, where 'I will' can sound like a promise or a refusal to budge.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Old English willan meant 'to want'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Will developed from expressing desire and intention into a future marker; 'I will go' illustrates this development rather than quoting an identified historical speaker. pure.uva.nl
  2. 2
    always doesverbauxiliary
    Used for what regularly happens or what someone characteristically tends to do.

    Accidents will happen.

    He will leave the door open, however often I ask.

    UsageCommon in sayings: accidents will happen, boys will be boys. Stressed, it shows annoyance: he will leave the door open.

    Note

    A pattern stated as though it were a law of nature: 'boys will be boys' and 'people will talk' forecast nothing in particular.

  3. 3
    be willingverbauxiliary
    Used to express willingness or refusal with no reference to time, mostly in questions and negatives.

    Will you help me with this?

    The door won't open, and the window will not budge either.

    Note

    Here will carries consent rather than prediction: "Will you marry me?" asks for a yes now, not a forecast. Where the future auxiliary predicts, this sense requests or refuses. Its negative, won't, is flat refusal ("she won't eat her vegetables"), and it even reaches objects that merely resist, as in a door that won't open.

  4. 4
    verbauxiliary
    Used to say what is inferred or supposed to be true now or to have already happened.

    You will have heard the news, I suppose.

    They will be in bed by now, surely.

    UsageWill be guesses about now, will have + past participle about the past: that will be the postman.

    Similarmust

    Note

    Here the future form makes a guess about the present or the past. 'She will be at work by now' reasons from habit, and 'I will have left my keys in the car' infers what must already have happened. Shop talk uses the same move to name a price ('that will be five zloty'), stating the sum as a confident conclusion. Read it as 'must, I suppose', not as 'later'.

  5. 5
    verbauxiliary
    To be able to, expressing what something has the capacity to do.

    The tank will take forty liters.

    This key will open the back door.

    Similarcan

  6. 6
    as you likeverbliterarytransitive
    To wish, choose, or desire, surviving mainly in phrases such as 'call it what you will' and 'if you will'.

    Call it what you will, it is still a tax.

    Say what you will, she was brave.

    Similarlike, please, wish, want, choose

    Note

    The verb's original meaning, from Old English willan 'to want', now kept mostly in fixed frames such as 'do what you will' and 'say what you will'. Shakespeare's title Twelfth Night, or What You Will uses the same frame, and the older 'if thou wilt fare well' shows wilt as its second-person form.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The verb descends from Old English willan, meaning 'to want'. en.wiktionary.org
    • Shakespeare's play bears the title Twelfth Night, or What You Will. folger.edu
    • What You Will in the title expresses wishing or choosing. folger.edu
    • The older wording 'if thou wilt fare well' is attested. en.wiktionary.org
    • Wilt is the second-person singular present form of will used with thou. en.wikipedia.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of will apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–6, 13

From Old English willan ("to want"), going back through Proto-Germanic *wiljaną to the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁- ("to choose, wish"), and related to German wollen and Latin velle. Its history sometimes blends with that of the regular verb will, from Old English willian.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Meanings 7–10

From Middle English wille, from Old English willa, from Proto-Germanic *wiljô ("desire, will"), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁- ("to choose, wish"). It is related to Dutch wil, German Wille, and Swedish vilja.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

Meanings 11–12

From Old English willian ("to will, desire"), from the same Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁- ("to choose, wish") as the modal will. Its history sometimes blends with the modal's, which comes from the closely related Old English willan ("to want").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts