willy-nilly | Idiomator

Meaning: Whetherdesiredor not; withoutregardforconsequencesorwishesof thoseaffected; whetherwillinglyorunwillingly.Synonyms:(archaic)nilly-willy,nolens volensSome writers chasing money churn out novelswilly-nilly.1868,[Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, translated byArthur Duke Coleridge,Egmont. A Tragedy.[…], London:Chapman & Hall,[…],→OCLC, act II,page40:Whenever I see a long handsome neck,willy nilly, the thought will come uppermost—What a capital neck for carving! Those cursed executions! One can't rid one's mind of them.1889,Walter Besant, “A Slight Thing at the Best”, inFor Faith and Freedom[…], volume II, London:Chatto & Windus,[…],→OCLC,page243:[I]f you love him not, then you can love me, and, therefore, can come to please yourself,willy-nilly. What! am I to be thwarted in such a trifle?Willy-nilly, I say, I will marry thee. Come—we waste the time.1954,Aldous Huxley,The Doors of Perception, London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC, page36:The outer world is what we wake up to every morning of our lives, is the place where,willy-nilly, we must try to make our living.For more quotations using this term, seeCitations:willy-nilly.; (idiomatic)Seeminglyatrandom;haphazardly.The novelAlice in Wonderlanddescribes a place where things happenwilly-nilly.

Examples:

EN: They say I give out detentions willy-nilly, but in 24 years as a teacher I have never given a single punishment.
ES: Dicen que doy castigos al azar, sin embargo, en 24 años, puedo decir que nunca, haya dado un castigo.
EN: A willy-nilly when I roll my eyes
ES: Quieran o no, cuando vuelvo la vista
EN: Poor Johnny One Note yelled willy-nilly Until he was blue in the face
ES: ♪ "Johnny One Note" gritaba, lo quieras o no, hasta que se le ponía azul la cara ♪
EN: I hate willy-nilly.
ES: Odio el "queramos o no".
EN: Not even dreams can be to develop willy-nilly!
ES: Los sueños no pueden ser fomentados a la fuerza.
EN: But it won't work to do just anything willy-nilly.
ES: Pero no consiste en hacer cualquier cosa.
EN: It's amazing how decisions are forced on you willy-nilly.
ES: Es curioso cómo te obligan a tomar decisiones.
EN: I ran to Mindy's willy-nilly.
ES: Corrí a lo de Mindy alocadamente.
EN: When you sell coffee, you willy-nilly see if your clients' wallets are underfed or nicely fed.
ES: Cuando usted vende café, ...quieras o no, ves que clientes tienen las carteras mas gordas. - Si.
EN: And then you, willy-nilly, pinch it.
ES: Y entonces, quiérase o no, lo desinflan.
EN: I mean, it's one thing if I don't feel like living anymore... but for somebody else to decide willy-nilly that I should be dead...
ES: Una cosa es que no quiera vivir más. Pero otra cosa es que alguien decida que tengo que morir...
EN: You just can't willy-nilly eat okra two meals a day and expect to get away with it.
ES: No puedes comer okra alegremente dos veces al día sin que haya consecuencias.
EN: You shoot willy-nilly!
ES: Usted no sabe a quién dispara.
EN: - Traveling here and there, willy-nilly.
ES: Viajando de allí por allá. De cualquier manera.
EN: I don't willy-nilly hand out syringes.
ES: No entrego jeringas caprichosamente.

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