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wilderness

noun
/ˈwɪldənəs/UK/ˈwɪldɚnəs/US

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). Wilddēor is derived from wilde (“savage, wild”) (ultimately either from Proto-Indo-European *wel-, *welw- (“hair, wool; ear of corn, grass; forest”), or *gʷʰel- (“wild”)) + dēor (“beast, wild animal”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- (“to breathe; breath; soul, spirit; creature”)). The English word is cognate with Danish vildnis (“wilderness”), German Wildernis, Wildnis (“wilderness”), Middle Dutch wildernisse (“wilderness”) (modern Dutch wildernis (“wilderness”)), Middle Low German wildernisse (“wilderness”) (German Low German Wildernis (“wilderness”)), Saterland Frisian Wüüldernis (“wilderness”), West Frisian wyldernis (“wilderness”). Sense 3.3 (“situation of disfavour or lack of recognition”) is a reference to Numbers 14:32–33 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.”

  1. derived from *dʰwes-✻ — “to breathe; breath; soul, spirit; creature”
  2. derived from *wel-✻
  3. inherited from *wildēornes✻
  4. inherited from wilddeōren — “savage, wild”
  5. inherited from wilderne — “deserted or uninhabited place, wilderness; land not yet settled”
  6. inherited from wildernes

Definitions

  1. Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with…

    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.

    • For ſtill he traueild through wide waſtfull ground, / That nought but deſert wilderneſſe ſhewed all around.
    • O my poore kingdome! ſicke with ciuill blowes: / VVhen that my care could not withhold thy riots, / VVhat wilt thou do when riot is thy care? / O thou wilt be a wilderneſſe againe, / Peopled with woolues, thy old inhabitants.
    • Behold, as wilde aſſes in the deſart, goe they foorth to their worke, riſing betimes for a pray: the wildernes yeeldeth food for them; and for their children.

  2. A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore…

    A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.

    • For now I ſtand as one vpon a rocke, / Inuirond with a wildernes of ſea, / VVho markes the vvaxing tide, grovv vvaue by vvaue, / Expecting euer vvhen ſome enuious ſurge, / VVill in his briniſh bovvels ſvvallow him.
    • [W]hat / Is this blue wilderness of interminable / Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen / The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden?

  3. An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a…

    An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness.

    • And now with nerves new-brac'd and ſpirits chear'd / We tread the wilderneſs, whoſe well-roll'd walks / With curvature of ſlow and eaſy ſweep, / Deception innocent—give ample ſpace / To narrow bounds.
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. Unrefinedness

      Unrefinedness; wildness.

      • What ſhould I thinke, / Heauen ſhield my Mother plaid my Father faire: / For ſuch a warped ſlip of wilderneſſe / Nere iſſu'd from his blood.
      • Theſe paths & Bowers doubt not but our joynt hands / Will keep from Wilderneſs with eaſe, as wide / As we need walk, till younger hands ere long / Aſſiſt us: […]

    2. Chiefly followed by of

      Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.

      • [T]he virgins thou haſt rob'd of all their wiſhes, / blaſted their blowing hopes, turn'd their ſongs, / their mirthful Marriage-ſongs to Funerals, / the Land thou haſt left a wilderneſſe of wretches.
      • Thir glittering Tents he paſsd, and now is come / Into the bliſsful field, through Groves of Myrrhe, / And flouring Odours, Caſſia, Nard, and Balme; / A Wilderneſs of ſweets; […]

    3. A place or situation that is bewildering and in which one may get lost.

      • As I walk'd through the wilderneſs of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a Denn; And I laid me down in that place to ſleep: And as I ſlept I dreamed a Dream.
      • If solitude succeed to grief, / Release from pain is slight relief; / The vacant bosom's wilderness / Might thank the pang that made it less.
      • Where to go? Still somewhere, anywhere! still going on; but where! She thought of the only other time she had been lost in the wide wilderness of London—though not lost as now—and went that way. To the home of Walter's uncle.

    4. Preceded by in the

      Preceded by in the: a situation of disfavour or lack of recognition; (specifically, politics) of a politician, political party, etc.: a situation of being out of office.

    5. A forested region of central Virginia.

    6. The Battle of the Wilderness, 1864, which occurred there.

    7. An unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, Orange County, Virginia, United…

      An unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, Orange County, Virginia, United States.

The neighborhood

Derived

Bogong Peaks Wilderness, Byadbo Wilderness, call in the wilderness, voice in the wilderness, voice calling in the wilderness, cry in the wilderness, voice crying in the wilderness, Jagungal Wilderness, nonwilderness, Pilot Wilderness, The Devils Wilderness, wilderness program, Wilderness Road, wilderness therapy, wilderness treatment center

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at wilderness. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01wilderness02wild03uninhibited04inhibited05repressed06subjected07subject08liable09exposed10expose

A definitional loop anchored at wilderness. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at wilderness

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA