semiwild

5.5

Partly wild and not fully tamed or controlled

adjective
/ˌsɛmiˈwaɪld/

: semisalvaje

These horses are considered semiwild because they roam freely but are not completely untamed.

Examples

The semiwild dogs lived near the village but still hunted for food.
Many semiwild plants thrive in this region.
Some semiwild plants grow in gardens but can also be found in the forest.
The reserve is home to a herd of semiwild ponies that are occasionally fed by rangers.
The semiwild horses roam freely in the fields.
The Barbary macaque is known for its semiwild population living in the forests of Morocco.
In the nature reserve, the semiwild deer graze peacefully, showing only a slight wariness of humans.

Synonyms

semi-wild

vssemiwild

1 6.0

Only partly wild, not fully tamed or grown by people

is the same meaning but written without a hyphen in modern usage

semidomesticated

vssemiwild

1 7.2

Partly tame animals that live with people but still have wild instincts

is more about being partly wild and not controlled by people

Antonyms

domesticated

Specialized

3.1

Kept or grown by people for food, work and company

How Wild

feral

4 5.7

wild

142 2.8

semiwild

5.5

tame

9 3.4

Surface Forms

semiwild positive

Morphology

semiwild = wild (transparent) = semi + wild

The meaning is directly compositional: 'semi-' contributes 'partly' and 'wild' supplies the base sense of not domesticated.

Etymology

The word semiwild joins semi and wild, and semi means 'partly' or 'half', as in semicircle or semi-final. So, semiwild means 'partly wild', not fully tamed or controlled.