Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Lascivious or promiscuous. Used especially of women.
- adjective Exciting or expressing sexual desire.
- adjective Marked by unprovoked, gratuitous maliciousness; capricious and unjust.
- adjective Unrestrainedly excessive.
- adjective Luxuriant; overabundant.
- adjective Frolicsome; playful.
- adjective Obsolete Rebellious; refractory.
- intransitive verb To behave in a wanton manner; act lasciviously.
- intransitive verb To move idly or playfully.
- noun One, especially a woman, who is licentious or promiscuous.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To revel; frolic unrestrainedly; sport.
- To sport or dally in lewdness; sport lasciviously.
- To make wanton.
- To spend or waste in wantonness.
- Ill brought up; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, free from moral control.
- Characterized by extreme recklessness, fool-hardiness, or heartlessness; malicious; recklessly disregardful of right or of consequences: applied both to persons and to their acts.
- Wild; unruly; loose; unrestrained.
- Playful; sportive; frolicsome.
- Rank; luxuriant.
- Characterized by unrestrained indulgence of the natural impulses or appetites; dissolute; licentious.
- Particularly, unchaste; lascivious; libidinous; lustful; lewd.
- noun A pampered, petted creature; one spoiled by fondness or indulgence; also, a frolicsome, roving, sportive creature; a trifier: used sometimes as a term of endearment.
- noun A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
- intransitive verb To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.
- noun A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment.
- noun One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet.
- noun A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
- adjective Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive.
- adjective Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute.
- adjective Specifically: Deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous; lecherous.
- adjective Reckless; heedless.
- transitive verb obsolete To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete
Undisciplined ,unruly ; not able to be controlled. - adjective
Lewd ,immoral ;sexually open,unchaste . - adjective obsolete
Playful ,sportive ; being merry or carefree (often used figuratively). - adjective obsolete
Self-indulgent , fond ofexcess ;luxurious . - adjective
Capricious ,reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others;gratuitous . - adjective obsolete
Extravagant ,unrestrained ;excessive (of speech or thought). - noun A
pampered orcoddled person. - noun An overly
playful person. - noun A
self-indulgent person, fond ofexcess . - noun archaic A
lewd orimmoral person, especially aprostitute . - verb intransitive To act
wantonly ; become wanton. - verb transitive To waste or
squander , especially in pleasure (often with away).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun lewd or lascivious woman
- verb spend wastefully
- verb behave extremely cruelly and brutally
- adjective occurring without motivation or provocation
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word wanton.
Examples
-
V. ii.310 (340,7) you make a wanton of me] A _wanton_ was, a man feeble and effeminate.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
-
Mr. Rowland, the Ramsey pub landlord, says his change of heart about the EU came when he saw what he calls the "wanton destruction" that EU rules and quotas brought to fishing towns on the northern English coast.
U.K. Ambivalence Toward EU Grows Alistair MacDonald 2012
-
Maxwell land grant case, which he characterizes as a wanton and shameful surrender to the rapacity of monopolists of 1,662,764 acres of the public domain, on which hundreds of poor men had settled in good faith and made valuable improvements.
Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887 Volume 1, Number 9 1856
-
This kind of what I call wanton stupidity, where an industry delivers a sub-standard tech and then quickly upgrades it to encourage additional sales volumes sucks.
The Red Ferret Journal - gadgets, cool sites, freeware and tech trivia 2010
-
Both sides engaged in wanton violence and slaughter.
Memorial Day: Burning Pols in Effigy « Antiwar.com Blog 2009
-
Their behaviour was inexcusable as they took part in wanton criminality.
More attacks on Jewish owned Starbucks in London Not a sheep 2009
-
I pity those who don't know the difference, but I am no longer forced to show up alongside them in wanton violation of my conscience, not to mention my sense of good taste.
-
Zenawi says the VOA operates in "wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda."
Alemayehu G. Mariam: Let Ethiopians Hear America's Voice Alemayehu G. Mariam 2010
-
Zenawi says the VOA operates in "wanton disregard of minimum ethics of journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda."
Alemayehu G. Mariam: Let Ethiopians Hear America's Voice Alemayehu G. Mariam 2010
-
For the perverse pleasure in wanton (self -) destruction?
valse commented on the word wanton
Quite possibly my 10th grade English teacher's favorite word.
January 6, 2007
seanahan commented on the word wanton
And my favorite type of Chinese soup :)
January 6, 2007
gloriaha commented on the word wanton
Now I'm hungry. And maybe not for soup!
January 7, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word wanton
As in wanton hussy.
May 7, 2007
fictionaldelusions commented on the word wanton
Wanton waste of time
June 9, 2008
yarb commented on the word wanton
Citation on jointure.
September 12, 2008
sionnach commented on the word wanton
"he has fewer of those humorous caprices of expression of which formerly he was wont to wanton".
From the Atlantic Monthly review of "Great Expectations", September 1861 issue.
July 9, 2009
bilby commented on the word wanton
As a verb ...?
July 17, 2009
thesaraheffect commented on the word wanton
I've never hear wanton used as a verb, how odd!
September 17, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word wanton
Cf. cheesytoes.
September 24, 2009