as in randomly
without definite aim, direction, rule, or method
they were in a hurry, so they just tossed everything into the room willy-nilly, leaving it to be all sorted out later
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Recent Examples of willy-nilly
But that doesn’t negate what is already happening in other parts of the economy, where the Administration is intervening willy-nilly, dispensing money and favors, and expanding its reach at a pace that’s hard to keep up with.
—
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
Surtain, the reigning defensive player of the year, does not lather such compliments upon wideouts willy-nilly.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 12 Sep. 2025
Walter Sam believes in the magical power of accurately wielding words as well as the bad juju that comes with spouting them all willy-nilly.
—Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Many therapists are already willy-nilly entering data about clients and patients into off-the-shelf publicly available LLMs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willy-nilly
John Cassidy, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
Surtain, the reigning defensive player of the year, does not lather such compliments upon wideouts willy-nilly.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 12 Sep. 2025
Walter Sam believes in the magical power of accurately wielding words as well as the bad juju that comes with spouting them all willy-nilly.
—Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
Many therapists are already willy-nilly entering data about clients and patients into off-the-shelf publicly available LLMs.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willy-nilly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willy-nilly
randomly
Adverb
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Analysts say the Israeli military often uses randomly generated international numbers since phone calls are not permitted between the two countries, technically at war for decades.—
Isabel Debre,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
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The team randomly assigned half of the patients a weekly semaglutide shot and the other half a placebo for six months.—
Dr. Grace Hagan,
ABC News,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Willy-nilly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willy-nilly. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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