definitions

against one's will

Without one's consent, forcibly, as in The defendant knew he could not be made to testify against his will. Originally one meaning of will was “acquiescence” or “consent,” but this sense survives only in this idiom, which today nearly always implies some use of force. [c. 1400]

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Nearby words

again, again and again, against, against all odds, against one's better judgment, against one's will, against the clock, against the grain, against the tide, agal, agalactia
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.