willy-nilly

wil·ly-nil·ly  (wl-nl)

adv.

1. Whether desired or not: After her boss fell sick, she willy-nilly found herself directing the project.

2. Without order or plan; haphazardly.

adj.

1. Being or occurring whether desired or not: willy-nilly cooperation.

2. Disordered; haphazard: willy-nilly zoning laws.

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[Alteration of will ye (or he), nill ye (or he), be you (or he) willing, be you (or he) unwilling.]

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willy-nilly [ˌwɪlɪˈnɪlɪ]

adv

whether desired or not

adj

occurring or taking place whether desired or not

[Old English wile hē, nyle hē, literally: will he or will he not; nyle, from ne not + willan to will¹]

Thesaurus

Adv.	1.	willy-nilly - in a random manner; "the houses were randomly scattered"; "bullets were fired into the crowd at random" arbitrarily, at random, every which way, haphazardly, indiscriminately, randomly
	2.	willy-nilly - without having a choice

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willy-nilly

adverb

1. whether you like it or not, necessarily, of necessity, perforce, whether or no, whether desired or not, nolens volens (Latin) We were dragged willy-nilly into the argument.

2. haphazardly, at random, randomly, without order, without method, without planning, any old how (informal) The papers were just bundled into the drawers willy-nilly.

Translations

willy-nilly [ˈwɪlɪˈnɪlɪ] ADV

1. (= unsystematically) → de cualquier manera

2. (= willingly or not) → quiérase o no, guste o no guste

willy-nilly [ˌwɪliˈnɪli] adv

(= in a disorganized way) → pêle-mêle

(= whether sb wants or not) → bon gré mal gré

willy-nilly

adv

(= at random) choose, allocate → aufs Geratewohl; accept → wahllos, ohne Weiteres

(= willingly or not) → wohl oder übel, nolens volens

willy-nilly [ˌwɪlɪˈnɪlɪ] adv → volente o nolente