wild
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: wīld
ipa: /waɪld/
ipa: [waɪ̯ɫd]
ipa: [ˈwaɪ̯.ɫ̩d]
rhymes: -aɪld
Forms: form: wilder
form: wildest
Etymology: From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian wyld, Dutch wild, German wild, Danish vild, Swedish vild, Norwegian vill, Icelandic villtur.
Senses: examples: text: Near-synonym: indigenous
text: Przewalski's horses are the only remaining wild horses, although there are many feral horses throughout the world.
text: In this region, the wild boars can be dangerous, but (perhaps counterintuitively) the feral hogs can be even worse.
text: noli me tangere for Ceſars I ame
and wylde for to hold though I ſeme tame
ref: c. 1527–1542, Thomas Wyatt, “Who so list to hounte”, in Egerton MS 2711, page 7v:
text: Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
text: Thee Shepherd, thee the Woods, and deſert caves, / With wilde Thyme and the gadding Vine o'regrown,
ref: 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 58:
text: Their flowers range from the rather formal blossoming of outer London to the wilder flowering of the country, where willow-herb and broom, traveller's joy and campion, go rioting over the chalky banks of the Metropolitan Line.
ref: 1950 July, “Traveller's Joy”, in Railway Magazine, page ii (advertisement):
text: Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
ref: 2013 May–June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
antonyms: tame
glosses: Untamed; not domesticated.
Especially, being of the wild type: being of an unbroken ancestral line of undomesticated animals, as opposed to being feral, being an undomesticated animal whose ancestors were domesticated.
coordinate_terms: feral#Adjective
antonyms: tame
glosses: Untamed; not domesticated.
Being in the wild, by any pathway (whether by being of the wild type, by being feral since birth, or by being feral after escape from domesticated life).
examples: text: wild honey
glosses: From or relating to wild creatures.
examples: text: I was filled with wild rage when I discovered the infidelity, and punched a hole in the wall.
text: Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
⁠Confusions of a wasted youth;
⁠Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Prologue”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Unrestrained or uninhibited.
examples: text: The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.
text: Those most rural routes will not get overhead wires. As Reeve told the seminar: "Even in my wildest dreams, I can't see a business case for electrifying the Far North Line."
ref: 2022 August 10, Philip Haigh, “Scotland switched on to electrification”, in RAIL, number 963, page 35:
glosses: Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
examples: text: The aircraft's navigational equipment should not be powered from the wild AC bus except in an emergency, as its computers can be damaged by variations in electrical frequency.
topics: business
electrical
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Of unregulated and varying frequency.
examples: text: Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.
text: City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.
ref: 2011 August 7, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
glosses: Furious; very angry.
examples: text: After a week on the trail without a mirror, my hair was wild and dirty.
glosses: Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
examples: text: I'm not wild about the idea of a two day car trip with my nephews, but it's my only option.
glosses: Enthusiastic.
examples: text: The novice archer fired a wild shot and hit her opponent's target.
glosses: Very inaccurate; far off the mark.
examples: text: a wild roadstead
glosses: Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Hard to steer.
raw_tags: of a vessel
topics: mathematics
sciences
antonyms: tame
glosses: Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
raw_tags: of a knot
examples: text: Did you hear? Pat won the lottery! — Wow, that's wild!
glosses: Amazing, awesome, unbelievable.
glosses: Very unexpected; wildly surprising; crazy, diabolical.
examples: text: In this card game, aces are wild: they can take the place of any other card.
text: We define a pattern as a valid GP subtree that might contain wild characters [i.e. wildcards] in any of its nodes.
ref: 2009, Leonardo Vanneschi, Steven Gustafson, Alberto Moraglio, Genetic Programming: 12th European Conference:
glosses: Able to stand in for others, e.g. a card in games, or a text character in computer pattern matching.
examples: text: a wild track; wild sound
glosses: Of an audio recording: intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.
Derived terms: word: American wild plum
word: Asian wild horse
word: buck wild
word: common wild oat
word: deuces wild
word: go wild
word: half-wild
word: hog-wild
word: in the wild
word: Mongolian wild horse
word: run wild
word: semi-wild
word: sow wild oats
word: sow one's wild oats
word: take a walk on the wild side
word: walk on the wild side
taxonomic: Lindera benzoin
word: wild allspice
word: wild almond
word: wild and woolly
word: wild and wooly
taxonomic: Meum athamanticum
word: wild aneth
word: wild-animal
word: wild animal
word: wild as a Tuckernuck steer
word: wild as a wet hen
word: wild asparagus
word: wild-ass
word: wild ass
word: wild bachelor's-button
word: wild bachelor's button
taxonomic: Echinopepon wrightii
word: wild balsam apple
word: wild basil
word: wild bergamot
word: wild betel
word: wild blueberry
word: wild blue yonder
taxonomic: Sus scrofa
word: wild boar
word: wild buckwheat
word: wild bugloss
word: wild cabbage
word: wild candytuft
word: wild cane
word: wild card
word: wildcard
word: wild-card
taxonomic: Daucus carota
word: wild carrot
alt: Felis silvestris or Lynx rufus
word: wildcat
word: wildcat strike
word: wildcatter
word: wild-cat
word: wild cat
word: wild-caught
word: wild celery
alt: Matricaria discoidea or Tripleurospermum inodorum
word: wild chamomile
alt: Prunus avium or Prunus serotina
word: wild cherry
word: wild chicory
word: wild child
word: wild cotton
word: wildcrafting
word: wild cucumber
taxonomic: Bunium bulbocastanum
word: wild cumin
word: wild custard apple
taxonomic: Meum athamanticum
word: wild dill
word: wild dog
word: wild drake
word: wild duck
taxonomic: Connochaetes spp.
word: wildebeest
word: wild eggplant
english: Sambucus spp. or Nuxia floribunda
translation: Sambucus spp. or Nuxia floribunda
word: wild elder
word: wilden
word: wild endive
word: wilder
word: wilderness
word: wildest
word: wild-eyed
word: wild feed
word: wildfire
word: wildflower
word: wild flower
word: wildfowl
word: wild foxtail millet
word: wild garlic
taxonomic: Geranium maculatum
word: wild geranium
word: wild ginger
word: wild goat
word: wild goose
word: wild-goose plum
word: wild guess
word: wild haggis
word: wild hair
word: wild horse
word: wild hyacinth
word: wild indigo
word: wilding
word: wild ipecacuanha
taxonomic: Isopogon ceratophyllus
word: wild Irishman
word: wildish
word: wild land
word: wild leek
taxonomic: Lactuca virosa
word: wild lettuce
word: wild licorice
word: wild life
word: wildlife
word: wild lily-of-the-valley
word: wild line
word: wild loquat
word: wildly
word: wild mammee
word: wild mangosteen
word: wild man syndrome
word: wild man
word: wild-man
taxonomic: Origanum vulgare
word: wild marjoram
word: wild mint
taxonomic: Sinapis arvensis subsp. arvensis
alt: syn. Brassica kaber
word: wild mustard
word: wildness
word: wild oat
word: wild oats
word: wild olive
word: wild onion
word: wild orange
word: wild out
word: wild ox
word: wild pansy
word: wild passionfruit
word: wild pellitory
taxonomic: Rumex hymenosepalus
word: wild pieplant
word: wild pig
word: wild pigeon
word: wild pig syndrome
alt: Silene caroliniana or Dianthus sect. Fimbriatum spp.
word: wild pink
word: wild pitch
english: Heliconia
translation: Heliconia
word: wild plantain
word: wild plum
word: wild pointer
word: wild potato
taxonomic: Portulaca oleracea
word: wild purslane
word: wild radish
taxonomic: Rumex hymenosepalus
word: wild rhubarb
english: Zizania
translation: Zizania
word: wild rice
word: wild river
word: wild rosemary
word: wild rue
english: Elymus spp. or Leymus spp.
translation: Elymus spp. or Leymus spp.
word: wild rye
word: wild service tree
word: wild soursop
taxonomic: Aciphylla squarrosa
word: wild Spaniard
word: wild spinach
word: wild stonecrop
taxonomic: Fragaria vesca
word: wild strawberry
word: wildstyle
taxonomic: Cichorium intybus
word: wild succory
taxonomic: Peganum harmala
word: wild Syrian rue
word: wild take
word: wild teasel
word: wild thing
taxonomic: Thymus serpyllum
word: wild thyme
taxonomic: Nicotiana rustica
word: wild tobacco
word: wild track
taxonomic: Meleagris gallopavo
word: wild turkey
taxonomic: Curcuma aromatica
word: wild turmeric
word: wild type
word: wild-type
taxonomic: Vanilla planifolia
word: wild vanilla
word: wild weasel
word: wild wee
word: Wild West
word: wild woman
word: wildwood
word: wild yam