noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ˈwaɪld.nəs/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:W AY1 L D N AH0 S
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
The state or quality of being wild.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: tameness, domestication, civility
2
noun
Meaning 2
an intractably barbarous or uncultivated state of nature
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: tameness
Broader terms: intractability, intractableness
3
noun
Meaning 3
an unruly disposition to do as one pleases
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
Liza had always had a tendency to wildness
the element of wildness in his behavior was a protest against repressive convention
