nolens volens
Americanadverb
adverb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Guizot is unable to answer this question, and after long, vain efforts to find a solution of the enigma in historical circumstances, he returns, falls back nolens volens, upon the theory of human nature.
From Anarchism and Socialism by Plekhanov, Georgii Valentinovich
After dictating these humiliating conditions—which, nolens volens, the defeated bravos are obliged to accept—the young officers leap back into their saddles, and trot off to rejoin the ladies.
From The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea by Reid, Mayne
I went to his bedroom door; it was locked from the outside, so I perforce remained where I was, to, nolens volens, witness the finish of last night's interview.
From Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and Other Stories by Ouida
A monstrous arrangement, thus to betroth young people, mere children often, nolens volens, but a very common one at the period.
From The Strife of the Roses and Days of the Tudors in the West by Rogers, William Henry Hamilton
He did not heed her, put the ring on her finger, and saw that it fitted her well, and wanted to marry his daughter nolens volens.
From Italian Popular Tales by Crane, Thomas Frederick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
