act of will
Conscious mental effort
An act of will is a deliberate mental exertion to do something, especially when it requires effort or goes against inclination.
The phrase emphasizes conscious choice over impulse or habit: Getting out of bed on Monday morning is an act of will.
It often implies overcoming resistance—internal reluctance, physical limitation, or external pressure: By sheer act of will, she finished the marathon.
- volitionCapacity for choice
- determinationFirmness of purpose
- resolveFirmness of purpose
- intentionPlanned purpose for acting
- willpowerMental strength resisting impulse
choice · decision · deliberate · conscious · mind over matter · effort · exertion · command · assertion · force · grit · discipline · self-control · dig deep · commitment · purposeful · driven · tenacity
act of willreflex
Involuntary stimulus response
involuntary action · impulse · automatic response · knee-jerk reaction · instinct
act of willsubmission
Yielding to another's will
capitulation · compulsion · surrender · coercion · resignation
act of willaccident
Unintended harmful event
happenstance · slip · lapse · mistake · Freudian slip
act, acts, acted, acting, action, actions, active, actively, activate