wild
- adverb
- /waɪld/
- During the concert, the audience danced wildly to the upbeat music.
Examples
-
This crowd's going wild loving the wide-open action in this quarterfinal game.
-
More cheers—the crowd was going wild over the aerial demonstration.
Fiction book (1998) -
The fans cheered wildly as the team scored the winning goal.
-
The children ran wild in the playground, laughing and playing without a care.
Synonyms
In a way that has no rules or limits
In a way that is not controlled and shows strong feeling
In a violent, wild way that is out of control
In a wild and uncontrolled way that often causes damage
Spreading quickly and without control
In a way that shows strong feeling and no holding back
In a wild, untamed way like an animal
Antonyms
Idioms
- NSFW
Behave carelessly and have many romantic adventures before settling down
- Informal
A saying that you should not expect a wild person or thing to behave calmly
Compounds
- US
A time in the western United States when settlers moved in and there were few laws
- Offensive
A woman who does not follow normal social rules and is often avoided by others
- Jargon
In baseball, a pitch the catcher cannot catch that lets a base runner advance
- Archaic
A live show with cowboys riding horses, shooting, and showing life in the old West
A water bird like a mallard that lives in lakes and rivers and is not kept by people
A strong-smelling plant with broad leaves that grows in woods and people use in cooking
A plant with a thick underground root used in traditional medicine for joint pain or liver problems
A large wild animal like a donkey that lives on dry plains in Asia and northeast Africa
A traveling American show from the 1880s that showed horse riding, shooting and frontier life
- US
A plant that grows every year in dry parts of southwestern US and Mexico and has small tubers like potatoes
- US
An edible root that looks like a nut and was an important food for some Native American people
- US
A wild plant from South America and Mexico with leaves used for smoking and not usually grown for sale
A plant that grows naturally without farming and is the ancestor of wheat grown on farms
- South African
A tree from Africa with yellow fruit, oily seeds, and hard wood that resists termites
A North American plant with purple or pink flowers used for tea and in gardens
A small wild flower with divided leaves and purple flowers that grows in woods and meadows
A low bush that stays green all year and has small white flowers and red berries
A low bush with spreading branches and small flowers that grows in western United States deserts
- South African
A large evergreen shrub with many branches grown for its dense green leaves
- US
A North American plant with blue, white, or yellow flowers that grows in prairies and open woods
- US
A plant that grows in eastern North America with leaves like a hand and groups of blue flowers
- UK
A wild leafy plant that is the ancestor of garden vegetables like kale or broccoli
A low bog bush from northern Europe and Asia with leaves that smell strong and pleasant, not the cooking herb
How Wild
Surface Forms
Etymology
Wild comes from an old word meaning 'untamed', so used as an adverb it means 'in an uncontrolled way'—for example, plants grow wild or the horses ran wild.