I. ˈwīld, esp before pause or consonant ˈwīəld adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English wilde, from Old English; akin to Old High German wildi wild, Old Norse villr wild, gone astray, bewildered, Gothic wiltheis wild, Welsh gwyllt, Cornish guyls
1.
a.
(1) : living in a state of nature : inhabiting natural haunts (as the forest or open field) : not tamed or domesticated
a wild ox
wild duck
(2) : being one of a kind not ordinarily subjected to domestication
the tame wild goose finally flew away
— compare feral
(3) : shy 1a
b.
(1) : growing or produced without the aid and care of man : not cultivated : brought forth by unassisted nature or by animals not domesticated : native
wild furs
the closest wild relative of cultivated corn — P.C.Mangelsdorf
wild honey
(2) : related to or resembling a corresponding cultivated or domesticated organism — used in vernacular names of plants and animals; see wild oat , wild onion
c. : not living near or associated with man — used especially of a mosquito that does not breed near human habitations in distinction from one that habitually does so
d. : of or belonging to organisms in a state of nature : typical of undomesticated animals or uncultivated plants
the wild state
wild nature
2.
a. : not inhabited or cultivated
the only profit in wild land was to clear and plant it with one's own hands or to sell it — American Guide Series: New York
b. : not being or appearing amenable to human habitation or cultivation : rough , waste , desolate
becomes much wilder as the trees give place to bare granite crags — S.P.B.Mais
3.
a.
(1) : not subjected to restraint or regulation : uncontrolled , inordinate , ungoverned
mobs are wild , unpredictable, vicious, and insanely cruel when aroused — P.I.Wellman
the wild frenzy of religious camp meetings — J.T.Adams
a piano played with a wild exuberance — Louis Bromfield
(2) : abandoned to or overcome by passion, desire, or emotion
the frenzied old man, wild with hatred and insane with baffled desire — W.M.Thackeray
wild with grief
also : passionately eager, enthusiastic, desirous, or angry
he was wild to own a toy train — J.C.Furnas
his sponsors … are wild about him as a salesman — Howard Taubman
boys wild for the venture — Marjory S. Douglas
straining and wild to take to the air — Kay Boyle
was wild at people talking, and upsetting him — Sheila Kaye-Smith
(3) : not amenable to control, restraint, or domestication : unruly , ungovernable , reckless
bars and bowling alleys full of wild youths breezily and brutally telling each other off — Robert Lowry
a rabble of wild country lads — W.B.Yeats
the zebra is too wild to be used as a draft animal
a wild mop of hair — Irwin Shaw
(4) of a ship : hard to steer or tending to yaw from the course
(5) : not capped : not brought into controlled or regulated production — used of an oil or gas well
b. : marked by turbulent violent agitation : rough , tempestuous , stormy
the sea against the west coast was wild with storm — Ernesta D. Barlow
it's a wild night … to be out in the rain — J.M.Synge
c. : licentious , dissolute
d. : exceeding normal or conventional bounds in thought, design, conception, execution, or nature : extravagant , fantastic , visionary
overmatched in lush, easy wealth the wildest dreams of fantasy — T.H.White b. 1915
remonstrating against the wild project — H.E.Scudder
wild beliefs about the origin of these fishes — J.L.B.Smith
the wildest complexity ever added to the steam engine — George Zabriskie
a wild array of bathhouses, dance halls, freak shows, fun houses — American Guide Series: New York City
a necktie of wild colors and pattern
e.
(1) : become destructive or ferocious through escape from normal restraints
wild cells forming a tumor
a dog gone wild
(2) : escaped from or beyond human control
the brakes gave out and … not even a fool would ride a wild truck … with an overload of logs — Hugh Fosburgh
— compare wildfire
f.
(1) : characteristic or indicative of strong or overwhelming passion, desire, or emotion
looked at me with a wild stare of agony — Walter O'Meara
a wild gleam of delight in his eyes — Irish Digest
taken his wild words in earnest — George Meredith
(2) : characterized or marked by the presence or activity of unruly, intemperate, abandoned, or impassioned persons
a wild 5-hour street battle — Current History
a wild , frontier town — American Guide Series: Texas
found dead on a beach, apparently following a wild party — M.S.Forbes
4.
a. : not acculturated to an advanced civilization : rude , uncivilized , barbaric
wild natives
wild practices
b. : not yielding to a governmental authority : savage , intractable , rebellious
wild border tribes
c. : resembling a barbarian or a wild animal : brutalized
dirty, wild , and degraded as only the worst slaves of antiquity had been — Lewis Mumford
5. : characteristic of, appropriate to, or expressive of wilderness, wildlife, or people in a simple or uncivilized society or environment
wild and rugged grandeur — Elinor Wylie
wild love of freedom — Meridel Le Sueur
in the brush a soft persuasive cooing … subtle and wild and unobtrusive — John Burroughs
6.
a. : deviating from a natural or expected course, goal, or practice : acting, appearing, or being manifested in an unexpected, undesired, or unpredictable manner : random , erratic
impulsive grammar and wild spelling — C.W.Cunnington
giving a wild guess, I suggested that the model was one twelfth the size of the ordinary chair — S.P.B.Mais
wild price fluctuations — W.R.Langdon
swing across traffic in a wild circle — Green Peyton
b. : not accounted for by known theories
afterimages … although perhaps not strictly hallucinations might be alleged as wild sense-data — R.J.Hirst
7. : great in extent, size, quantity, or intensity : extreme , prodigious
wild and precarious leaps — D.L.Busk
a wild headache that did not leave her for days — Louis Bromfield
the world's wildest religious fanatics — Isaac Deutscher
8. of a playing card : having a denomination determined by the will of the holder — compare deuces wild , joker
9. of paper : loose and irregular in formation so as to appear mottled when looked through — contrasted with well-closed
II. noun
( -s )
1. : a region or tract that is sparsely inhabited or uncultivated : wilderness
the ruthless life of the wild — James Stevenson-Hamilton
settlers had to cross this Indian-infested wild — American Guide Series: Texas
living in the wilds of Africa hunting crocodiles — Publisher's Weekly
2. : a wild, free, or natural life or existence
corn in the wild may well have been a plant with low survival value — P.C.Mangelsdorf
III. adverb
1. : wildly
wild shy about seeing any of her own people — Mary Deasy
2. : without regulation or control : uncontrolledly
given over to violence, society is an engine running wild — F.H.Giddings