living in a state of nature; not tamed or domesticated.
a wild animal;
wild geese.
growing or produced without cultivation or the care of humans, as plants, flowers, fruit, or honey.
wild cherries.
uncultivated, uninhabited, or waste.
wild country.
uncivilized or barbarous.
wild tribes.
of unrestrained violence, fury, intensity, etc.; violent; furious.
wild strife;
wild storms.
characterized by or indicating violent feelings or excitement, as actions or a person's appearance.
wild cries;
a wild look.
frantic or distracted; crazy.
to drive someone wild.
violently or uncontrollably affected.
wild with rage;
wild with pain.
undisciplined, unruly, or lawless.
a gang of wild boys.
unrestrained, untrammeled, or unbridled.
wild enthusiasm.
disregardful of moral restraints as to pleasurable indulgence.
He repented his wild youth.
unrestrained by reason or prudence.
wild schemes.
amazing or incredible.
Isn't that wild about Bill getting booted out of the club?
disorderly or disheveled.
wild hair.
wide of the mark.
He scored on a wild throw.
Informal. intensely eager or enthusiastic.
wild to get started;
wild about the new styles.
Cards. (of a card) having its value decided by the wishes of the players.
Metallurgy. (of molten metal) generating large amounts of gas during cooling, so as to cause violent bubbling.
run wild,
to grow unchecked.
The rambler roses are running wild.
to show lack of restraint or control.
Those children are allowed to run wild.
in the wild,
in a natural state or in the wilderness.
in the real world; in real life.
language learning in the classroom and in the wild.
blow wild, (of an oil or gas well) to spout in an uncontrolled way, as in a blowout.
(of animals) living independently of man; not domesticated or tame
(of plants) growing in a natural state; not cultivated
uninhabited or uncultivated; desolate
a wild stretch of land
living in a savage or uncivilized way
wild tribes
lacking restraint
wild merriment
of great violence or intensity
a wild storm
disorderly or chaotic
wild thoughts
wild talk
dishevelled; untidy
wild hair
in a state of extreme emotional intensity
wild with anger
reckless
wild speculations
not calculated; random
a wild guess
unconventional; fantastic; crazy
wild friends
informal intensely enthusiastic or excited
(of a card, such as a joker or deuce in some games) able to be given any value the holder pleases
jacks are wild
rough; untamed; barbarous
(of theories, plans, etc) not fully thought out
in a wild manner
to grow without cultivation or care
to behave without restraint
(often plural) a desolate, uncultivated, or uninhabited region
a free natural state of living
the wilderness
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English wilde; cognate with Dutch, German wild, Old Norse villr, Swedish vild, Gothic wiltheis
Something that's wild lives in nature and isn't tamed. Your pet poodle isn't wild, but the groundhog that lives under your garden shed is wild. An animal or plant in its native habitat is wild, like a wild dingo or a wild strawberry. An untamed bit of nature, like your overgrown back yard, or a stormy ocean, is also wild. If a person is wild, he might be unrestrained, crazy, or even enthusiastic — like someone who's wild about cabaret music. The term "to run wild" means to grow unrestrained, undisciplined, like a wild animal or an imagination that isn't held back by rules.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not everybody was surprised by the wild Fed Day trading.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Both stocks and bonds saw wild swings, while the dollar finished 0.5% lower — more than erasing all of its gains from earlier in the month, based on the performance of the ICE U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Despite these sobering realities, “The Madness Pill” is a celebration of scientific genius and a salute to the wild complexity of the brain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Zoo conservationists have bred 300 near-extinct tiny snails and introduced them back into the wild.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
I glance down at the water, certain that the hooves of the two thousand wild horses galloping through my chest are making ripples in the water.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
“I don’t expect it to be the Wild West of AI.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
One expert told me the situation was a "Wild West".
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Honorable mention: Norway’s star striker Erling Haaland, who went viral for bringing home a taxidermy raccoon holding a whiskey bottle that he reportedly bought for $750 from Wild Bill’s Western Store in Dallas.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
“I view these guys and gals as the homesteaders of the Wild West,” said Albrecht, who previously represented big private-equity firms at law firm Gibson Dunn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Paupers! Pirates! What a dreadful place London is. Wild horses could not induce me to return to this inhospitable city—Mrs. Clarke!”
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
Haigh says online comments about her hair colour encouraged her to make it "even wilder"
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
America had its latchkey generation and, along with that, a growing sense that the world is a dangerous place, especially its wilder parts.
From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026
Some of the wilder estimates of $200 for Brent suggest to Brooks an assumption that price elasticity is zero – in other words, demand is not impacted at all.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026
“I’m not speaking for Mary Shelley, but there must have been some other, naughtier, wilder, more dangerous things that Mary Shelley wanted to say that weren’t said in ‘Frankenstein.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2026
The more they ran, the wilder they became.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Wall Street endured a painful selloff on Wednesday, as new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh presided over one of the wildest Fed decision days for markets in recent memory.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Could a Madison Square Garden wedding be the love story of Taylor Swift's wildest dreams?
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
“Juneteenth — what it means for me is that I’m my ancestors’ wildest dreams”
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
Meanwhile, many of the individual traders who long powered crypto’s wildest bull runs have gotten swept up in the excitement around artificial-intelligence stocks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
Which would be the wildest, most reckless, worst idea ever.
From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli
Or is there space still wilded enough for fleeting magic in suburban sprawl?
From Salon ● May 10, 2024
"Hollywood is on time out. I'm just going to put that right to the camera. Hollywood is wilding right now."
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2024
Also in the crowd: Olivia Rodrigo and Demi Lovato, the latter of whom posted a video on Instagram of the former wilding out to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2023
“Our young people are out here wilding sometimes, and whatever it takes for us to get them under control, we have to do it,” he said.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2022
Every night on Clubhouse, people are just wilding.
From The Verge ● Feb. 1, 2022
I guess dorm parties got old, so they’re wilding out on the subway instead—and were joining them, dammit.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
