Dictionaries › English

wanton

Pronunciation: /ˈwɒntən/

The English word “wanton” has 13 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
  2. Playful, sportive; merry or carefree.
  3. Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
  4. Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
  5. Extravagant, unrestrained, excessive.

noun

  1. A pampered or coddled person.
  2. An overly playful person; a trifler.
  3. A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
  4. A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
  5. wonton (Chinese dumpling)

verb

  1. To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
  2. To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (most often with away).
  3. To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.

Etymology

From Middle English wantoun, wantowen, wantoȝen, wantowe (“uneducated; unrestrained; licentious; sportive; playful”), from wan- (“not, un-, mis-”) + towen, i-towen (“educated”, literally “towed; led; drawn”), from Old English togen, ġetogen, past participle of tēon (“to train, discipline”), equivalent to wan- + towed.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “wanton” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.