wild
Pronunciation: /wʌɪld/
adjective
- 1(of an animal or plant) living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated: a herd of wild goats wild strawberries
- produced from wild animals or plants without cultivation: wild honey
- 2(of a place or region) uninhabited, uncultivated, or inhospitable: an expanse of wild moorland the wild coastline of Cape Wrath
- (of sea or the weather) rough and stormy: a wild, bitterly cold night
- (of people) not civilized; primitive: the wild tribes from the north
- (of a look, appearance, etc.) indicating distraction or strong emotion: her wild eyes were darting back and forth
- 3lacking discipline or restraint: wild parties were never her scene
- informal very enthusiastic or excited: I’m not wild about the music
- informal very angry.
- 4not based on sound reasoning or probability: a wild guess wild rumours were circulating performing in Hollywood was beyond my wildest dreams
- 5(of a playing card) deemed to have any value, suit, colour, or other property in a game at the discretion of the player holding it. See also wild card.
noun
(the wild)verb
Phrases
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run wild
- grow or develop without restraint or discipline: these horses have been running wild since they were born figurative her imagination had run wild
-
wild horses wouldn't ——
- used to convey that nothing could persuade or force one to do something: wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away
-
wild and woolly
- uncouth in appearance or behaviour: the Australian outlaw’s wild and woolly look he might have been a gunman in his wild and woolly youth
Origin:
Old English wilde, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German wild