Against My Will Meaning
Definition: Forced to do something that one doesn’t want to do.
Origin of Against My Will
One of the definitions of will is one’s desires, wishes, or conscious actions. This noun has existed in English since around the year 900. Therefore, against one’s will literally means that something is not what the person wants.
Examples of Against My Will
The dialogue below shows two friends arguing about what to eat for dinner.
Giuseppe: Let’s get some Mexican food.
May: No. We get Mexican food all the time. I want to try something different.
Giuseppe: Well, I only like Mexican food.
May: Why don’t we get some Greek food? That would be fun, and a nice change. It would add some variety to your diet. It’s also healthy.
Giuseppe: I don’t want Greek food.
May: Well, too bad. You’re already in my car, and I’m the one driving. I’m taking us to the Greek restaurant.
Giuseppe: I can’t stop you, but you should know that you are doing this against my will.
In the dialogue below, a father and his daughter use the expression while at a pop concert.
Rafal: Oh, this is awful.
Vesna: Come on, Dad. Look at all the other people. They’re all excited to be here. You should be excited, too!
Rafal: All the other people are teenage girls. I am a 40-year-old man. I do not like this type of music.
Vesna: And the best thing of all is that we won these tickets, so they’re free!
Rafal: I wish you had never won those tickets. If you hadn’t won them, you wouldn’t have forced me to come here against my will.
Vesna: Stop being dramatic. Look! The concert is starting.
More Examples
This excerpt is about people whose Uber driver kidnapped them.
- “Was just kidnapped by an @uber driver in DC, held against my will, and involved in a high speed chase across state lines with police #Crazy,” tweeted Ryan Simonetti, a New York businessman who was in town on business, according to the Washington Post. –LA Times
The second excerpt is about an author who may have lied in his non-fiction book. He says the Taliban kidnapped him.
- Yes, I was detained for eight days in Waziristan in 1996. It was against my will, and my passport and money were taken from me. I was not mistreated or harmed, but I was also not allowed to leave. –LA Times
Summary
The English phrase against one’s will means that someone makes someone else do something without his or her consent or agreement.
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