wild
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: wīld, IPA(key): /waɪld/
- Rhymes: -aɪld
Audio (US) (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”). Cognate with West Frisian wyld (“wild”), Dutch wild (“wild”), German wild (“wild”), Danish vild (“wild”), Swedish vild (“wild”), Norwegian vill (“wild”), Icelandic villtur (“wild”).
Adjective
wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)
- Untamed; not domesticated; specifically, in an unbroken line of undomesticated animals (as opposed to feral, referring to undomesticated animals whose ancestors were domesticated).
- Antonym: tame
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- The woods and desert caves, / With wild thyme and gadding vine o'ergrown.
- 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
- 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.
- Przewalski's horses are the only remaining wild horses.
- From or relating to wild creatures.
- wild honey
- Unrestrained or uninhibited.
- I was filled with wild rage when I discovered the infidelity, and punched a hole in the wall.
- Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
- The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.
- Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
- 2011 August 7, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
- 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.
- Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.
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- Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
- After a week on the trail without a mirror, my hair was wild and dirty.
- Enthusiastic.
- I'm not wild about the idea of a two day car trip with my nephews, but it's my only option.
- Inaccurate.
- The novice archer fired a wild shot and hit her opponent's target.
- Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
- a wild roadstead
- (nautical) Hard to steer; said of a vessel.
- (mathematics, of a knot) Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
- Antonym: tame
- (slang) Amazing, awesome, unbelievable.
- Did you hear? Pat won the lottery! - Wow, that's wild!
- Able to stand in for others, e.g. a card in games, or a text character in computer pattern matching.
- In this card game, aces are wild: they can take the place of any other card.
- 2009, Leonardo Vanneschi, Steven Gustafson, Alberto Moraglio, Genetic Programming: 12th European Conference
- We define a pattern as a valid GP subtree that might contain wild characters [i.e. wildcards] in any of its nodes.
Derived terms
- in the wild
- walk on the wild side
- wild allspice
- wild and woolly
- wild animal
- wild balsam apple
- wild basil
- wild blueberry
- wild boar
- wild bugloss
- wild camomile
- wildcard
- wild card
- wildcarrot
- wild cat
- wildcat
- wildcat strike
- wildcatter
- wild celery
- wild cherry
- wild child
- wildcrafting
- wild cumin
- wild drake
- wildebeest
- wild elder
- wilden
- wilder
- wilderness
- wildest
- wild-eyed
- wildfire
- wildflower, wild flower
- wildfowl
- wild geranium
- wild ginger
- wild goose
- wild goose chase
- wild-goose chase
- wild hyacinth
- wilding
- wild Irishman
- wildish
- wild land
- wild licorice
- wildlife
- wildly
- wild mammee
- wild man
- wild marjoram
- wild mustard
- wildness
- wild oat
- wild pieplant
- wild pigeon
- wild pink
- wild pitch
- wild plantain
- wild plum
- wild purslane
- wild rice
- wild rye
- wild Spaniard
- wild strawberry
- wildstyle
- wild turkey
- wild turmeric
- wild vanilla
- Wild West
- wildwood
Translations
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Adverb
wild (comparative more wild, superlative most wild)
- Inaccurately; not on target.
- The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.
Noun
wild (plural wilds)
- The undomesticated state of a wild animal
- After mending the lion's leg, we returned him to the wild.
- (chiefly in the plural) a wilderness
- 1730–1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
- Thus every good his native wilds impart
- Imprints the patriot passion on his heart;
- And e’en those ills that round his mansion rise
- Enhance the bliss his scanty funds supplies.
- 1730–1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
Verb
wild (third-person singular simple present wilds, present participle wilding, simple past and past participle wilded)
- (intransitive, slang) To commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
- 1989, David E. Pitt, Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours, New York Times (April 22, 1989), page 1:
- ...Chief of Detectives Robert Colangelo, who said the attacks appeared unrelated to money, race, drugs, or alcohol, said that some of the 20 youths brought in for questioning has told investigators that the crime spree was the product of a pastime called "wilding".
- "It's not a term that we in the police had heard before," the chief said, noting that the police were unaware of any similar incident in the park recently. "They just said, 'We were going wilding.' In my mind at this point, it implies that they were going to raise hell."...
- 1999, Busta Rhymes (Trevor Taheim Smith, Jr.), Iz They Wildin Wit Us? (song)
- Now is they wildin with us / And getting rowdy with us.
- 1989, David E. Pitt, Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours, New York Times (April 22, 1989), page 1:
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Middle Dutch wilt, from Dutch wild, from Old Dutch *wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vəlt/
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch wilt, from Old Dutch wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ʋɪlt/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: wild
- Rhymes: -ɪlt
Inflection
Inflection of wild | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | wild | |||
inflected | wilde | |||
comparative | wilder | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | wild | wilder | het wildst het wildste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | wilde | wildere | wildste |
n. sing. | wild | wilder | wildste | |
plural | wilde | wildere | wildste | |
definite | wilde | wildere | wildste | |
partitive | wilds | wilders | — |
Derived terms
- wildebras
- wildplassen
- wildplukken
- wildvreemd
Descendants
- Afrikaans: wild
Derived terms
- jachtwild
- wildwissel
Descendants
- Afrikaans: wild
German
Etymology
From Old High German wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz. Compare Dutch wild, English wild, Danish vild.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɪlt/
audio (Austria) (file) Audio (file)
Declension
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist wild | sie ist wild | es ist wild | sie sind wild | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | wilder | wilde | wildes | wilde |
genitive | wilden | wilder | wilden | wilder | |
dative | wildem | wilder | wildem | wilden | |
accusative | wilden | wilde | wildes | wilde | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der wilde | die wilde | das wilde | die wilden |
genitive | des wilden | der wilden | des wilden | der wilden | |
dative | dem wilden | der wilden | dem wilden | den wilden | |
accusative | den wilden | die wilde | das wilde | die wilden | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein wilder | eine wilde | ein wildes | (keine) wilden |
genitive | eines wilden | einer wilden | eines wilden | (keiner) wilden | |
dative | einem wilden | einer wilden | einem wilden | (keinen) wilden | |
accusative | einen wilden | eine wilde | ein wildes | (keine) wilden |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist wilder | sie ist wilder | es ist wilder | sie sind wilder | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | wilderer | wildere | wilderes | wildere |
genitive | wilderen | wilderer | wilderen | wilderer | |
dative | wilderem | wilderer | wilderem | wilderen | |
accusative | wilderen | wildere | wilderes | wildere | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der wildere | die wildere | das wildere | die wilderen |
genitive | des wilderen | der wilderen | des wilderen | der wilderen | |
dative | dem wilderen | der wilderen | dem wilderen | den wilderen | |
accusative | den wilderen | die wildere | das wildere | die wilderen | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein wilderer | eine wildere | ein wilderes | (keine) wilderen |
genitive | eines wilderen | einer wilderen | eines wilderen | (keiner) wilderen | |
dative | einem wilderen | einer wilderen | einem wilderen | (keinen) wilderen | |
accusative | einen wilderen | eine wildere | ein wilderes | (keine) wilderen |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | er ist am wildesten | sie ist am wildesten | es ist am wildesten | sie sind am wildesten | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | wildester | wildeste | wildestes | wildeste |
genitive | wildesten | wildester | wildesten | wildester | |
dative | wildestem | wildester | wildestem | wildesten | |
accusative | wildesten | wildeste | wildestes | wildeste | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der wildeste | die wildeste | das wildeste | die wildesten |
genitive | des wildesten | der wildesten | des wildesten | der wildesten | |
dative | dem wildesten | der wildesten | dem wildesten | den wildesten | |
accusative | den wildesten | die wildeste | das wildeste | die wildesten | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein wildester | eine wildeste | ein wildestes | (keine) wildesten |
genitive | eines wildesten | einer wildesten | eines wildesten | (keiner) wildesten | |
dative | einem wildesten | einer wildesten | einem wildesten | (keinen) wildesten | |
accusative | einen wildesten | eine wildeste | ein wildestes | (keine) wildesten |
Hunsrik
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vilt/
Low German
Etymology
From Old Saxon wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz. Compare English, Dutch and German wild, West Frisian wyld, Danish vild.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wɪlt/
Declension
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is wild | se is wild | dat is wild | se sünd wild | |
partitive | een Wills | een Wills | wat Wills | allens Will | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | wille | wille | wild | wille |
oblique | willen | wille | wild | wille | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de wille | de wille | dat wille | de willen |
oblique | den willen | de wille | dat wille | de willen | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en wille | en wille | en wild/willet | (keen) willen |
oblique | en willen | en wille | en wild/willet | (keen) willen |
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is willer | se is willer | dat is willer | se sünd willer | |
partitive | een willers | een willers | wat willers | allens willer | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | willere | willere | willer | willere |
oblique | willern | willere | willer | willere | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de willere | de willere | dat willere | de willern |
oblique | den willern | de willere | dat willere | de willern | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en willere | en willere | en willer | (keen) willern |
oblique | en willern | en willere | en willer | (keen) willern |
gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | all genders | ||
predicative | he is de Willste | se is de Willste | dat is dat Willste | se sünd de Willsten | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | willste | willste | willst | willste |
oblique | willsten | willste | willst | willste | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | de willste | de willste | dat willste | de willsten |
oblique | den willsten | de willste | dat willste | de willsten | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | en willste | en willste | en willst | (keen) willsten |
oblique | en willsten | en willste | en willst | (keen) willsten |
Note: This declension is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects. |
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