The Collaborative Dictionary

Willful \Will"ful\, a. [Will + full.] [Written also wilful.] [1913 Webster]

Of set purpose; self-determined; voluntary; as, willful murder. --Foxe. [1913 Webster] In willful poverty chose to lead his life. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Thou to me Art all things under heaven, all places thou, Who, for my willful crime, art banished hence. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Governed by the will without yielding to reason; obstinate; perverse; inflexible; stubborn; refractory; as, a willful man or horse. [1913 Webster] -- Will"ful*ly, adv. -- Will"ful*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

willful adj

1 done by design; "the insult was intentional"; "willful disobedience" [syn: intentional, wilful]

2 habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition [syn: froward, headstrong, self-willed, wilful]

3 by conscious design or purpose; "intentional damage"; "a knowing attempt to defraud"; "a willful waste of time" [syn: deliberate, intentional, knowing, wilful]

Moby Thesaurus

advised, aimed, aimed at, arbitrary, autonomous, balking, balky, bigoted, bulldogged, bulletheaded, bullheaded, calculated, case-hardened, conscious, considered, contemplated, contumacious, decided, deliberate, deliberated, designed, determined, discretional, discretionary, disobedient, dogged, dogmatic, elective, envisaged, envisioned, factious, fanatic, free, free will, froward, gratuitous, hardheaded, headstrong, heady, independent, indisciplined, insubordinate, intended, intentional, intolerant, intractable, irresponsible, knowing, lawless, licentious, meant, meditated, mulish, mutinous, naughty, nonconforming, nonmandatory, obstinate, of design, offered, opinionated, optional, overzealous, persevering, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, planned, proffered, projected, proposed, purposed, purposeful, purposive, rampant, recusant, reinless, resolved, restive, self-acting, self-active, self-determined, self-determining, self-willed, set, spontaneous, stiff-necked, strong-willed, strongheaded, stubborn, studied, sulky, sullen, teleological, tenacious, transgressive, unaccountable, unasked, unbesought, unbidden, unbridled, uncalled-for, unchecked, uncoerced, uncompelled, uncomplying, uncontrolled, uncooperative, uncurbed, undisciplined, unduteous, undutiful, unforced, ungoverned, uninfluenced, uninvited, unpressured, unprompted, unregenerate, unreined, unrequested, unrequired, unrestrained, unsolicited, unsought, violative, voluntary, volunteer, wayward, wildcat, willing, witting, wrongheaded

English

Alternative spellings

wilful

Adjective

Done in a manner which was intended.
Full of will.

Intent in law is the planning and desire to perform an act, to fail to do so (i.e. an omission) or to achieve a state of affairs.

In criminal law, for a given actus reus ("guilty act"), the required element to prove intent consists of showing mens rea (mental state, "guilty mind").

The requirements for the proof of intent in tort law are generally simpler than criminal law. Knowledge of the repercussions of the act is often not necessary. It is sometimes only a matter of showing that there was desire to perform an act.