wantonly
Americanadverb
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willfully and thoughtlessly; recklessly.
We wantonly destroy the ecosystem that gives us life when we take out more than it can afford to give.
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without regard for what is right, just, or humane; maliciously and unjustifiably.
Those who wantonly and cruelly beat, abuse, or ill-treat these animals will be punished.
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in a sensually loose or unrestrained way.
A single day lived virtuously is worth more than a hundred years lived wantonly and without discipline.
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in an extravagant or excessively luxurious way.
Nations cannot continue to spend wantonly, hoping for a bailout that may not come.
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in a prolific or uncontrolled way.
A swarm of Asian carp are advancing up the Illinois River, breeding wantonly and gorging on plankton.
Etymology
Origin of wantonly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The plot is simultaneously ingenious, preposterous and, in its ultimate phantasmagorical effect, not unlike Mr. Holland’s account of the reality Mr. Boyne so wantonly subverts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Anthropic’s worries over Claude’s alleged ability to feel distress aren’t really about Claude; they’re about our all-too-human unease over the possibility that we’re wantonly using something that doesn’t want to be used.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2025
When Chernin’s Leo raises his voice in Jewish prayer before he is hanged, the memory of a man whose life was wantonly destroyed is momentarily restored.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025
And it would benefit us, too, to stop wantonly crushing cetaceans with our boats.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
Worst of all, if you wantonly divide by zero, you can destroy the entire foundation of logic and mathematics.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
