WILDERNESS

[noun] [C usually singular] - an area of land that has not been cultivated or had towns and roads built on it, esp. because it is difficult to live in as a result of its extremely cold or hot weather or bad earthShe said Alaska was the last great wilderness.(esp. US and ANZ) It's a wilderness area, under the protection of the Parks Department.(figurative) The garden was a wilderness of weeds and overgrown bushes (= There were a lot of plants growing close together and untidily in it).(figurative) Unemployment, drugs and crime are the key ingredients in the wilderness of the inner city (= unpleasant and dangerous areas in which few people live).If someone, such as a politician, is in the wilderness, they no longer have a position of authority and are no longer in the news.After five years in the political wilderness, she was recalled to be foreign minister.