as in restraint
the power to control one's actions, impulses, or emotions
trying to summon the willpower to resist buying any more books before finishing the unread ones I already have
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Recent Examples of willpower
Addiction doesn’t happen from having a lack of willpower or as a result of making bad decisions.
—
Lance Eliot, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
This seemed like the perfect way to describe the moment when a story gets good: when desire meets resistance, when willpower meets obstacle.
—Leslie Jamison, Travel + Leisure, 23 Jan. 2025
In 2012, for example, 49% of Americans responding to the General Social Survey, a long-standing national survey that measures societal change, said Black-white differences in income, housing and jobs were due to a lack of willpower on the part of Black people.
—Karyn Vilbig, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025
Democrats have, in fairness, shown a few glimmers of willpower of late: Fifteen attorneys general promised to oppose Trump’s plans to ban gender-affirming care this week, and members of Congress attempted more fervently to stall Trump’s nominations, or at least vote as an opposition bloc.
—Samantha Riedel, Them, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willpower
Lance Eliot, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2025
This seemed like the perfect way to describe the moment when a story gets good: when desire meets resistance, when willpower meets obstacle.
—Leslie Jamison, Travel + Leisure, 23 Jan. 2025
In 2012, for example, 49% of Americans responding to the General Social Survey, a long-standing national survey that measures societal change, said Black-white differences in income, housing and jobs were due to a lack of willpower on the part of Black people.
—Karyn Vilbig, The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2025
Democrats have, in fairness, shown a few glimmers of willpower of late: Fifteen attorneys general promised to oppose Trump’s plans to ban gender-affirming care this week, and members of Congress attempted more fervently to stall Trump’s nominations, or at least vote as an opposition bloc.
—Samantha Riedel, Them, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for willpower
Cite this Entry
“Willpower.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/willpower. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
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