wild
pronunciation
How to pronounce wild in British English:
UK [waɪld]
How to pronounce wild in American English:
US [waɪld]
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- Noun:
- a wild primitive state untouched by civilization
- a wild and uninhabited area
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- Adjective:
- marked by extreme lack of restraint or control
- in a natural state; not tamed or domesticated or cultivated
- in a state of extreme emotion
- deviating widely from an intended course
- (of colors or sounds) intensely vivid or loud
- not subjected to control or restraint
- talking or behaving irrationally
- produced without being planted or without human labor
- located in a dismal or remote area; desolate
- without civilizing influences
- (of the elements) as if showing violent anger
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- Adverb:
- in an uncontrolled and rampant manner
- in a wild or undomesticated manner
Word Origin
- wild
- wild: [OE] Wild is a general Germanic word, shared by German and Dutch (wild) and Swedish and Danish (vild). All go back to a prehistoric ancestor *wilthijaz, which in turn was probably descended from Indo-European *ghwelt- (source of Welsh gwyllt ‘wild’). The derivative wilderness [OE] etymologically denotes the ‘condition of being a wild animal’.It originated as an abstract noun formed from Old English wild dēor ‘wild animal’. But by the time it appears in texts, the modern sense ‘wild land’ is complete. The noun is thought to have been the source of the now defunct verb wilder, which probably served as the basis of bewilder [17]. Wildebeest [19] was acquired from Afrikaans.=> bewilder, wilderness
- wild (n.)
- "uncultivated or desolate region," 1590s, in the wilds. From wild (adj.). Earlier it meant "wild animal" (c. 1200).
- wild (adj.)
- Old English wilde "in the natural state, uncultivated, untamed, undomesticated, uncontrolled," from Proto-Germanic *wilthja- (cognates: Old Saxon wildi, Old Norse villr, Old Frisian wilde, Dutch wild, Old High German wildi, German wild, Gothic wilþeis "wild," German Wild (n.) "game"), from PIE root *welt- "woodlands; wild" (see wold). Ursula ... hath bin at all the Salsbury rasis, dancing like wild with Mr Clarks. [letter, 1674] Meaning "sexually dissolute, loose" is attested from mid-13c. Meaning "distracted with excitement or emotion, crazy" is from 1590s. U.S. slang sense of "exciting, excellent" is recorded from 1955. As an adverb from 1540s. Baseball wild pitch is recorded from 1867. Wildest dreams attested from 1717. Wild West in a U.S. context recorded by 1826. Wild Turkey brand of whiskey (Austin Nichols Co.) in use from 1942.
- wild (v.)
- "to run wild, refuse to be tamed," Old English awildian (see wild (adj.)). Wilding (n.) in the teen gang sense first recorded 1989. Earlier it meant "plant that grows without cultivation" (1520s).
Antonym
Example
- 1. He survives by harvesting wild foods and eating roadkill .
- 2. Don 't let the children run wild .
- 3. Panama is suffering a sudden economic slowdown after a wild boom .
- 4. It was a wild and lonely place .
- 5. A cynic might compare human squirrels unfavourably to the wild sort , which usually remember to dig up their nuts come springtime .