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Strength vs Will - What's the difference?

strength | will |

As nouns the difference between strength and will

is that strength is the quality or degree of being strong while will is (american football) a weak-side linebacker.

As a verb strength

is (obsolete) to give strength to; to strengthen.

As a proper noun will is

also used as a formal given name.

strength

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The quality or degree of being strong.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
    • Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
  • * , chapter=5
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength —all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
  • The intensity of a force or power; potency.
  • * 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
  • * Bible, (Psalms) xlvi. 1
    • God is our refuge and strength .
  • * (Jeremy Taylor) (1613–1677)
    • Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation.
  • A positive attribute.
  • (obsolete) A strong place; a stronghold.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Synonyms

    * fortitude * power * ability * capability * potency * expertise

    Antonyms

    * (The quality of being strong) weakness * (A positive attribute) weakness

    Derived terms

    * bond strength * compressive strength * crushing strength * dielectic strength * fatigue strength * field strength * full-strength * impact strength * industrial-strength * inner strength * ionic strength * party strength * pillar of strength * relative strength * shear strength * strengthen * strengthening * strengthful * strengthless * strengthy * superstrength * tensile strength * tower of strength * ultimate strength * understrength * wet strength * yield strength

    Related terms

    * strong * strongly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To give strength to; to strengthen.
  • * 1395 , (John Wycliffe), Bible , Job IV:
    • Lo! thou hast tau?t ful many men, and thou hast strengthid hondis maad feynt.
    (Chaucer)

    Statistics

    * English words suffixed with -th

    will

    English

    (wikipedia will)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) wille, from (etyl) . Cognate with Dutch wil, German Wille, Swedish vilja. The verb is not always distinguishable from Etymology 2, below.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) Desire, longing. (Now generally merged with later senses.)
    • He felt a great will to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
  • One's independent faculty of choice; the ability to be able to exercise one's choice or intention.
    • Of course, man's will is often regulated by his reason.
  • One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
    • Eventually I submitted to my parents' will .
  • (archaic) That which is desired; one's wish.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ii:
    • I auow by this most sacred head / Of my deare foster child, to ease thy griefe, / And win thy will [...].
  • The act of choosing to do something; a person’s conscious intent or volition.
    • Most creatures have a will to live.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 27 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=The episode’s unwillingness to fully commit to the pathos of the Bart-and-Laura subplot is all the more frustrating considering its laugh quota is more than filled by a rollicking B-story that finds Homer, he of the iron stomach and insatiable appetite, filing a lawsuit against The Frying Dutchman when he’s hauled out of the eatery against his will after consuming all of the restaurant’s shrimp (plus two plastic lobsters).}}
  • A formal declaration of one's intent concerning the disposal of one's property and holdings after death; the legal document stating such wishes.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
    • , title=Well Tackled! , chapter=1 citation , passage=“Uncle Barnaby was always father and mother to me,” Benson broke in; then after a pause his mind flew off at a tangent. “Is old Hannah all right—in the will , I mean?”}}
    Usage notes
    * Can be said to be strong, free, independent, etc.
    Derived terms
    * at will * wilful, willful * willpower * with a will

    Verb

  • (archaic) To wish, desire.
  • * Bible, Matthew viii. 2
    • And behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt , thou canst make me clean.
  • (intransitive) To instruct (that something be done) in one's will.
  • To try to make (something) happen by using one's will (intention).
    • All the fans were willing their team to win the game.
  • * Shakespeare
    • They willed me say so, madam.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • Send for music, / And will the cooks to use their best of cunning / To please the palate.
  • To bequeath (something) to someone in one's will (legal document).
    • He willed his stamp collection to the local museum.
    Synonyms
    * (bequeath) bequeath, leave

    See also

    * bequeath * going to * modal verb * testament * volition * voluntary

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) willen, wullen, wollen, from (etyl) willan, .It is not always distinguishable from Etymology 1, above.

    Verb

  • (rare) To wish, desire (something).
  • * 1944 , FJ Sheed, translating St. Augustine, Confessions :
    • Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt .
  • (rare) To wish or desire (that something happen); to intend (that).
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XXVI:
    • the disciples cam to Jesus sayinge unto hym: where wylt thou that we prepare for the to eate the ester lambe?
  • *:
    • see God's goodwill toward men, hear how generally his grace is proposed, to him, and him, and them, each man in particular, and to all. 1 Tim. ii. 4. "God will that all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
  • (auxiliary) To habitually do (a given action).
  • * 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 28:
    • As young men will , I did my best to appear suave and sophisticated.
  • * 2009 , Stephen Bayley, The Telegraph , 24 Sep 09:
    • How telling is it that many women will volunteer for temporary disablement by wearing high heeled shoes that hobble them?
  • * 2011 , "Connubial bliss in America", The Economist :
    • So far neither side has scored a decisive victory, though each will occasionally claim one.
  • (auxiliary) To choose to (do something), used to express intention but without any temporal connotations (+ bare infinitive).
  • (auxiliary) Used to express the future tense, formerly with some implication of volition when used in first person. Compare (shall).
  • * (rfdate) William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Or What You Will , act IV:
    • Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink and paper : as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for’t.
  • * (rfdate) Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo , chapter LXXIII:
    • “I will' rejoin you, and we ' will fly ; but from this moment until then, let us not tempt Providence, Morrel; let us not see each other; it is a miracle, it is a providence that we have not been discovered; if we were surprised, if it were known that we met thus, we should have no further resource.”
  • (auxiliary) To be able to, to have the capacity to.
    • Unfortunately, only one of these gloves will actually fit over my hand.
    Usage notes
    * Historically, will' was used in the simple future sense only in the second and third person, while ''shall'' was used in the first person. Today, that distinction is almost entirely lost, and the verb takes the same form in all persons and both numbers. Similarly, in the intent sense, '''will was historically used with the second and third person, while ''shall was reserved for the first person. * Historically, the present tense is will' and the past tense is '''would'''. Early Modern English had a past participle ' would which is now obsolete. :: Malory, ‘Many tymes he myghte haue had her and he had wold’ ; John Done, ‘If hee had would, hee might easily [...] occupied the Monarchy.’ * Formerly, will could be used elliptically for "will go" — e.g. "I'll to her lodgings" (Marlowe). * See the usage note at shall . * The present participle does not apply to the uses of will as an auxiliary verb.
    See also
    *

    Statistics

    * 100 English basic words English auxiliary verbs English defective verbs English irregular verbs 1000 English basic words ----