| / English Dictionary |
WILDNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An intractably barbarous or uncultivated state of nature
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wildness" is a kind of...):
intractability; intractableness (the trait of being hard to influence or control)
Attribute:
untamed; wild (in a natural state; not tamed or domesticated or cultivated)
Antonym:
tameness (the attribute of having been domesticated)
Derivation:
wild (without civilizing influences)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An unruly disposition to do as one pleases
Example:
the element of wildness in his behavior was a protest against repressive convention
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wildness" is a kind of...):
fractiousness; unruliness; wilfulness; willfulness (the trait of being prone to disobedience and lack of discipline)
Derivation:
wild (marked by extreme lack of restraint or control)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The property of being wild or turbulent
Example:
the storm's violence
Synonyms:
ferocity; fierceness; furiousness; fury; vehemence; violence; wildness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wildness" is a kind of...):
intensity; intensiveness (high level or degree; the property of being intense)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wildness"):
savageness; savagery (the property of being untamed and ferocious)
Derivation:
wild ((of the elements) as if showing violent anger)
wild ((of colors or sounds) intensely vivid or loud)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A feeling of extreme emotional intensity
Example:
the wildness of his anger
Synonyms:
abandon; wildness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("wildness" is a kind of...):
passion; passionateness (a strong feeling or emotion)
Derivation:
wild (in a state of extreme emotion)
Context examples:
I may have effected something, or his wildness may have spent itself; but by degrees he struggled less, and began to look at me—strangely at first, then with recognition in his eyes.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Clerval at first attributed my unusual spirits to joy on his arrival, but when he observed me more attentively, he saw a wildness in my eyes for which he could not account, and my loud, unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and astonished him.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
I conjured him, incoherently, but in the most impassioned manner, not to abandon himself to this wildness, but to hear me.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“Though harrowing to myself to mention, the alienation of Mr. Micawber (formerly so domesticated) from his wife and family, is the cause of my addressing my unhappy appeal to Mr. Traddles, and soliciting his best indulgence. Mr. T. can form no adequate idea of the change in Mr. Micawber's conduct, of his wildness, of his violence. It has gradually augmented, until it assumes the appearance of aberration of intellect. Scarcely a day passes, I assure Mr. Traddles, on which some paroxysm does not take place. Mr. T. will not require me to depict my feelings, when I inform him that I have become accustomed to hear Mr. Micawber assert that he has sold himself to the D. Mystery and secrecy have long been his principal characteristic, have long replaced unlimited confidence. The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a separation. Last night, on being childishly solicited for twopence, to buy “lemon-stunners”—a local sweetmeat—he presented an oyster-knife at the twins!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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