What does will mean?
Will is one of the most useful and flexible words in English. As a modal auxiliary, it forms the future without needing another verb: “She will arrive tomorrow.” It can also express prediction, as in “It will rain,” willingness or consent, as in “He will help,” determination, and inevitability, as in “The situation will only get worse.” In questions and offers, will has the practical force of a request: “Will you come?” The noun will has several older and equally important meanings. It can denote the capacity or exercise of choice, a person's intention or preference, or a legal testament that records how property should be distributed after death. Will can also function as a literary verb meaning to wish or determine something. Although its grammatical forms are limited, it expresses ideas central to human experience: future intention, purposeful action, preference, and personal resolve. Its combination of grammatical simplicity and semantic range makes it especially valuable in both conversation and formal writing.
A modal auxiliary used to express the future, likelihood, willingness, promise, request, determination, or inevitability.
"I think the committee will approve the proposal."
Will does not change for grammatical person or tense and is normally followed by the bare infinitive.
The faculty or power of choosing and making decisions; a wish, intention, or preference; or a legal document stating how property is to be distributed after death.
"She submitted her last will and testament to her solicitor."
To wish, intend, or make a determined effort to bring something about.
"He willed the proposal to succeed despite repeated objections."
This sense is literary or formal and is less common in everyday speech.
The regular plural is used for multiple legal wills or for several acts of intention or choice.
"The judge carefully reviewed the wills of the deceased."
Will can name both the power behind a choice and the promise of what comes next.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does will come from?
English will descends from Old English willa, meaning “will, wish, or intention,” which developed from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną, “to wish” or “be willing,” and ultimately from an Indo-European root associated with wishing. The modern legal sense meaning “testament” developed through the language's longstanding association between a person's expressed wishes and the formal disposition of property after death. Related Latin forms include voluntas, the source of voluntary, and volitio, the source of volition; benevolent and malevolent also share this family of meanings.
Related word forms
How will is actually used
Will is the standard and most neutral way to express the future in everyday British and American English. It is also widely used for predictions, willingness, promises, offers, requests, and inevitability; in formal conditional statements, it can appear in both the if-clause and the main clause. Shall is now used more sparingly and often has a more formal or traditional tone.
Easily confused with will
Will expresses choice or helps form the future, while a wheel is a circular component that rotates.
Will is pronounced /wɪl/, whereas well is pronounced /wɛl/ and can mean in good health or satisfactory.