wilderness
Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild.
Noun 4 meanings
Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild.
A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.
An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness.
Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.
Etymology
From Middle English wildernes, wildernesse (“desolate or uninhabited place, desolation”) [and other forms], and then either: * from Middle English wilderne (“deserted or uninhabited place, wilderness; land not yet settled”) [and other forms] (from Old English wilddeōren (“savage, wild”); see below) + -nes, -nesse (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states); or * from Old English *wildēornes, *wilddēornes, either from wilddēor (“wild animal”) [and other forms] or wilddēoren (“savage, wild”) (from wilddēor + -en (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘consisting of; material made of’)) + -nes (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states).
Similar and opposite words
WILDERNESS at a glance
WILDERNESS has 10 letters and scores 14 points in Scrabble (W 4 + I 1 + L 1 + D 2 + E 1 + R 1 + N 1 + E 1 + S 1 + S 1) and 16 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #7,644 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with wilderness
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