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Fain vs Willing - What's the difference?

fain | willing |

As adjectives the difference between fain and willing

is that fain is (label) well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined while willing is ready to do something that is not (can't be expected as) a matter of course.

As verbs the difference between fain and willing

is that fain is (archaic) to be delighted or glad; to rejoice while willing is .

As an adverb fain

is (archaic) with joy; gladly.

As a noun willing is

(rare|or|obsolete) the execution of a will.

fain

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (label) Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
  • *:
  • *:Thus Gawayne and Ector abode to gyder / For syre Ector wold not awey til Gawayne were hole / & the good kny?t Galahad rode so long tyll he came that nyghte to the Castel of Carboneck / & hit befelle hym thus / that he was benyghted in an hermytage / Soo the good man was fayne whan he sawe he was a knyght erraunt
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Men and birds are fain of climbing high.
  • *(Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
  • *:To a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his business.
  • *(rfdate) (Dante Gabriel Rossetti), A Death-Parting , line 11
  • *:O love, of my death my life is fain ,
  • *1900 , (Ernest Dowson), To One in Bedlam , lines 9-10
  • *:O lamentable brother! if those pity thee, / Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;
  • (label) Satisfied; contented.
  • *{{quote-book, year=2004, author=W. Ross Winterowd
    • , title= Searching for Faith: A Skeptic's Journey , publisher=Parlor Press, quotee=(John Donne), Holy Sonnet XIV , isbn=9781932559309, page=29 , passage=Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain ,}}

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • (archaic) With joy; gladly.
  • * 1599 ,
    • LEONATO: I would fain know what you have to say.
  • * 1633 , , XIV
    • Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain ,/ But am betroth’d unto your enemy
  • * 1719 ,
    • The second thing I fain would have had was a tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible to me to make one…

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To be delighted or glad; to rejoice
  • (archaic) To gladden

    • References

    Anagrams

    * ----

    willing

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Ready to do something that is not (can't be expected as) a matter of course.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}

    Synonyms

    * agreeable, agreeing, consenting, voluntary

    Derived terms

    * willing horse

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare, or, obsolete) The execution of a will.

    • Verb

    (head)

    • External links

    * *