willingness

noun

Definition of willingnessnext
as in enthusiasm
cheerful readiness to do something his unhesitating willingness to take on the tough assignments has earned him the status of the president's right-hand man

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of willingness The first, and most important, step is the willingness to engage. — Deborah Mower, The Conversation, 2 July 2026 Later, Swift revealed that she was charmed by Kelce’s willingness to court her so publicly and decided to give him a chance. — Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 4 July 2026 One of Evenepoel’s greatest strengths as a rider is that aggression, the willingness to risk total defeat to maintain a chance of the win. — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 2 July 2026 Acceptance of the issues, a willingness to work through weaknesses and negotiate the situations that come up. — Chris Evans, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026 Their willingness to take on the risk of crossing the narrow waterway is crucial for the normalization of the oil market, still recovering from a historic four-month crisis. — Weilun Soon, Fortune, 5 July 2026 The cast says director Mengel brings together technical and interpersonal skills, with the willingness to give his cast the space to explore. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 July 2026 Respondents expressed broad willingness to share everyday experiences across the political divide. — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 4 July 2026 Public Act 26-108 reflects a willingness by lawmakers from both parties to evaluate promising treatments through research rather than assumption. — John R. Gordon, Hartford Courant, 5 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for willingness
  1. enthusiasm
  2. alacrity
  3. goodwill
  4. zeal
  5. eagerness
  6. gameness
Noun
  • Despite the crypto down market, Securitize is riding a wave of enthusiasm for tokenization as Wall Street increasingly experiments with blockchains.
    — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 2 July 2026
  • Neon wisely positioned itself as the exact right home for that enthusiasm with an inventive promotional tour that included, among other stops, a free gas giveaway.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 2 July 2026
Definition of enthusiasm
Noun
  • Quenneville and Killorn emphasized enthusiasm and alacrity, with Killorn cautioning against attention to detail transforming into something more obsessive.
    — Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 13 May 2026
  • But alacrity was possible because drafting the Declaration required no study.
    — Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
Definition of alacrity
Noun
  • The article concludes that genuine empowerment requires substantial capital investment, not just goodwill, to build effective support systems.
    — Lisa Curtis, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
  • By the end of the 1970s, the band and movemenet were losing goodwill, loathed by both the hip disco cognoscenti and a reactionary macho counterinsurgence that culminated in the vinyl furnace at Disco Demolition Night in Chicago.
    — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 1 July 2026
Definition of goodwill
Noun
  • Yet from No Child Left Behind through the push for the Common Core into today’s zeal for science of reading, policy leaders are frustrated that the version of policy that occurs in the classroom does not match their vision.
    — Peter Greene, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • As Prime Minister, Howard—a lifelong conservative who has lived abroad once, campaigning for the Tories in London—was known for having an almost schoolboy zeal for the job.
    — Oscar Schwartz, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Definition of zeal
Noun
  • Despite only scoring four goals across the three games, including a 0-0 draw against Portugal, the South Americans impressed with their free-flowing style of play and eagerness to get players forward.
    — Ben Church, CNN Money, 3 July 2026
  • Despite his eagerness to embrace AI, Tan demurred on sharing how OCBC will measure the return on its AI investment.
    — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 1 July 2026
Definition of eagerness
Noun
  • Part of what becomes apparent watching Chalamet do a press tour is his seemingly unlimited supply of gameness.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
  • De Shields arrived first, wearing a buffalo-plaid toque and a mien of utter gameness.
    — Henry Alford, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
Definition of gameness

Browse Nearby Words

willingly
willingness
williwaw
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Willingness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willingness. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on willingness

Nglish: Translation of willingness for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All