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• wilderness
  wilderness

  noun

  a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals; a tract of wasteland.
• Wilderness
  Wilderness

  noun

  a wooded area in NE Virginia: several battles fought here in 1864 between armies of Grant and Lee.

wilderness

¹ American  

[wil-der-nis] / ˈwɪl dər nɪs /

noun

• wildernesses
  plural

1. a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals; a tract of wasteland.

2. a tract of land officially designated as such and protected by the U.S. government.

3. any desolate tract, as of open sea.

4. a part of a garden set apart for plants growing with unchecked luxuriance.

5. a bewildering mass or collection.

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Wilderness ² American  

[wil-der-nis] / ˈwɪl dər nɪs /

noun

1. a wooded area in NE Virginia: several battles fought here in 1864 between armies of Grant and Lee.

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wilderness ¹ British  

/ ˈwɪldənɪs /

noun

1. a wild, uninhabited, and uncultivated region

2. any desolate tract or area

3. a confused mass or collection

4. a person, group, etc, making a suggestion or plea that is ignored

5. no longer having influence, recognition, or publicity

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Wilderness ² British  

/ ˈwɪldənɪs /

noun

1. the barren regions to the south and east of Palestine, esp those in which the Israelites wandered before entering the Promised Land and in which Christ fasted for 40 days and nights

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Synonym Usage

See desert ¹.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• wildernesses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wilderness

1150–1200; Middle English; Old English *wil ( d ) dēornes, equivalent to either wil ( d ) dēor wild beast ( see wild, deer) + -nes -ness, or wilddēoren wild, savage ( wilddēor + -en -en ² ) + ( -n ) es -ness; probably reinforced by Middle English wildernes, genitive of wildern wilderness (noun use of Old English wilddēoren ), in phrases like wildernes land land of wilderness

Explanation

If you don’t mow your lawn all summer, don’t be surprised if your neighbors complain that it resembles a wilderness, a wild area that is not tended by humans. The wilderness is of course filled with many animals, but did you know that the name of an animal is hidden in the word wilderness? The word actually is a combination of wild plus the Old English word dēor, along with the ending -ness, used in nouns that refer to a certain condition. While dēor eventually turned into our modern word deer, it didn’t refer to the antlered Bambi we imagine. It was simply the word for “animal.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wilderness Wilderness wildernesses

By March, 1850, Scientific American declared: “Where the steamboat goes, there the wilderness disappears.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

When Bill Clinton won the presidency 34 years ago, Democrats had been in the presidential wilderness for 12 years.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Search and rescue teams responded to “a climbing-related incident” in the parks’ Sierra Nevada wilderness Aug. 2, eventually finding Whisenant’s body, said Holly Streit, a spokesperson for the park.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

The first thing the coach did was recall the player from 18 months in the international wilderness.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

Where the Academy had the polished and manicured look of a college campus, this looked every inch the uninhabited wilderness.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Grant used the destruction of railroads and logistical networks, and superior manpower, to smother the Confederacy during his 1864 Wilderness Campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Despite the acclaim his Birmingham restaurant The Wilderness commands, Claridge says the reality behind the kitchen doors is one of soaring costs, shrinking margins and constant uncertainty.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

In early November, Edie Harmon, who has documented border wall activity in the Jacumba Wilderness since 2020, learned that Marines were stringing wire in an area called Skull Valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

Whittaker testified before Congress in 1968, and his advocacy helped establish North Cascades National Park and the Pasayten Wilderness in Washington state, as well as Redwood National Park in California.

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026

Jamie and Dylan are college students, camp counselors teaching in a summer program: Wilderness Adventures.

From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

America’s great national parks and wildernesses must be littered with dead relatives.

From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026

He came out of Africa and had spent years in the wildernesses of the East and the West.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

AppLovin has an ad platform that facilitates ads surrounding mobile apps, especially games, one of the last untamed wildernesses of digital advertising.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

For Ally Turner and her friend Glynis Mattheisen, it took a three day trek through one of Scotland's last great wildernesses to reach Britain's remotest pub.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2024

The foragers were there before us and they brought about dramatic changes even in the densest jungles and the most desolate wildernesses.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• back country
• desert
• forest
• jungle
• outback
• wasteland