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• wilding
  wilding

  noun

  a wild apple tree.
• Wilding
  Wilding

  noun

  ( Frederick ) Anthony . 1883–1915, New Zealand tennis player; Wimbledon singles champion (1910–1913) and doubles champion (1907–08, 1910, 1913)

wilding

¹ American  

[wahyl-ding] / ˈwaɪl dɪŋ /

noun

1. a wild apple tree.

2. its fruit.

3. any plant that grows wild.

4. a plant, originally cultivated, that now grows wild; an escape.

5. a wild animal.

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adjective

1. not cultivated or domesticated; wild.

wilding ² American  

noun

1. the practice by a group of youths of going on a random spree of violent criminal activity.

2. an instance of this.

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adjective

1. of or relating to such criminal activity.

   wilding teens;

   a wilding attack.

wilding ¹ British  

/ ˈwaɪldɪŋ /

noun

1. an uncultivated plant, esp the crab apple, or a cultivated plant that has become wild

2. a wild animal

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Wilding ² British  

/ ˈwaɪldɪŋ /

noun

1. ( Frederick ) Anthony . 1883–1915, New Zealand tennis player; Wimbledon singles champion (1910–1913) and doubles champion (1907–08, 1910, 1913)

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Etymology

Origin of wilding¹

First recorded in 1520–30; wild + -ing ³

Origin of wilding²

First recorded in 1985–90; wild + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wilding Wilding

"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

One of my favorite style of tweets is when people are like, “the brands are at it again,” and it usually just means brands are wilding on Twitter.

From The Verge ● Aug. 23, 2022

They were still wilding and messing with people and putting out squad tracts.

From "145th Street: Short Stories" by Walter Dean Myers

The study was led by Professor John Wilding from the University of Liverpool in the UK along with fellow researchers.

From Science Daily ● May 19, 2026

Wilding, who was then a young researcher on the team, said the results had been "very interesting" but at the time the future significance of this discovery was not fully appreciated.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

Tariff-related costs continue “to delay progress back to the central bank’s target” of 2% inflation, Pimco economist Tiffany Wilding wrote to clients on Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026

Pimco has shaved off 0.3 to 0.4 percentage point its forecast, assuming the conflict winds down quickly, managing director Tiffany Wilding said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026

Alas, there are still plenty of people who think, with Nick Wilding, that ‘social constructivism does not go nearly far enough.’

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton