wantonnessn.
/ˈwɒntənnəs/, U.S. /ˈwɑnt(n)nəs/, /ˈwɔnt(n)nəs/ 1.
a. Recklessness, wilfulness; wildness. Also: an instance of this. In later use esp.: reckless or unprovoked cruelty, violence, injustice, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > dissolute conduct > [noun]
reveriec1350
wantonnessc1390
recolagea1400
unthriftinessc1450
dissoluteness1549
profligateness1668
profligacy1693
unvirtuousness1865
virtuelessness1891
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > incautiousness > [noun] > rashness or recklessness
recklessnessOE
resec1275
outragea1387
rechelesshipc1390
wantonnessc1390
hastivessa1393
recklesslaika1400
racklenessc1405
recklessheadc1410
headiness1447
temerity?a1475
lavishness1477
hastivitya1500
rashnessa1500
Ate1587
temerousness1598
temeritude1623
wretchlessness1625
hare-brainedness1656
rantum-scantum1695
temerariousness1711
blindness1796
devil-may-carishness1829
devil-may-careness1834
devil-may-care1836
rattle-brain1838
devil-may-careism1841
bullheadedness1858
harum-scarumness1863
madcappery1905
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [noun] > carelessness or heedlessness > in evil-doing
wantonness1659
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun] > reckless or unjustified wrongdoing
wantonness1660
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. x. l. 67 Þe Fadres and þe Frendes For Fau[n]tes [MS Fautes] schul be Blamet Bote þei witen hem from wantounesse whil þat þei ben ȝonge.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xii. l. 6 (MED) I..many tymes haue moeued þe to þinke on þine ende..And of þi wylde wantounesse, þo þow ȝonge were, To amende it in þi myddel age.
1599 R. Parsons Temperate Ward-word viii. 120 Such turbulent spirits as those are, which more of a mad and malitious kinde of wantonnes, then of wit, do loose their tongues with ouer much libertie.
1659 J. Gauden Ἱερα Δακρυα i. i. 30 Who, but mutinous and mischievous mariners, will cast their wise Pilots and skilfull Masters over-boord..meerly out of a cruell wantonnesse.
1660 in A. Woodhead tr. St. Augustine Life Contents sig. a5 Of his Theft, done only out of Wantonness.
1708 E. Arwaker Truth in Fiction iii. xvii. 218 The Man's Son, thro' Wantonness, aggress'd, And with a rude Assault provok'd the Beast.
1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 153 When an Indian sheds human blood, it does not proceed from wantonness, or the view of doing evil.
1796 J. Morse Universal Geogr. (ed. 3) I. 356 The whole [of the stalactites] have since, by the wantonness of visitors, been broken down.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion i. 33 It were a wantonness, and would demand Severe reproof, if we were Men whose hearts Could hold vain dalliance with the misery Even of the dead. View more context for this quotation
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth ii, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 65 He would be as loath, in wantonness, to kill a spider, as if he were a kinsman to King Robert.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 433 A man may..commit some of these crimes..in a fit of childish wantonness.
1914 R. Kipling For All we Have i Our world has passed away In wantonness o'erthrown.
1949 Relig. in Life 18 373 The drama..may have been designed to illustrate life's senseless powers, the cruel wantonness of evil, and God's lack of mercy for man.
2012 R. S. Levine in R. Castronovo Oxf. Handbk. 19th Cent. Amer. Lit. ix. 174 The wantonness and cruelty of both assaults help to illuminate the Indian anger we see in the novels to come.
b. Unruliness, naughtiness, disobedience (of a child); restiveness, friskiness (of a horse).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of subjection > unruliness > [noun] > of children
wantonness1533
shrewdness1567
naughtiness1581
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > temperament > [noun] > stubborn or stupid > restiveness
wantonness1533
1533 T. More Apol. xlvii, in Wks. 922/2 As doeth the tender mother which when she hath beaten her chylde for hys wantones, wypeth his yien and kisseth hym.
1540 J. Palsgrave tr. G. Gnapheus Comedye of Acolastus i. i. sig. Civv Driueth my sonne to a wantonnesse or stubburnesse.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. v. 454/1 William..was through the wantonnes of his horse cast to the ground.
1648 J. Johnson Balsamum Britannicum 23 What a pitie it is, to see so much spent..upon some two-penny trespasse, for the wantonnesse of a mans Horse.
1789 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Glocestershire I. 198 All the mischief to which the wantonness of horses turned loose in so large a pasture can stimulate.
1800 D. Wordsworth Grasmere Jrnls. 10 June (1991) 10 Two little children whom she was chiding..while the little things hung in wantonness over the Panniers edge.
1880 Frank Leslie's Pop. Monthly Dec. 670/1 Our horses..pranced on, snorting and pricking up their ears in thorough wantonness and health.
1941 J. Cary House of Children xxii. 84 We were little anti-Christs taking a pleasure in creating an injustice, and I believe we did it in pure wantonness.
1990 J. Casey Pagan Virtue iii. 136 An angry parent who smacks a naughty child in the heat of the moment wishes to humble the child's wantonness through the infliction of pain.
2. Lustfulness, lasciviousness; sexual promiscuity.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > [noun]
goleshipc1000
golenessa1050
kaggerleȝcc1175
untowenshipa1250
follyc1300
wantonnessc1390
ragerya1393
nicetya1400
wantonhead1435
lightnessa1450
gole?a1500
free will?1518
nicenessa1533
looseness1576
licentiousness1586
waggishness1591
libertinage1611
libertinism1611
licence1713
fastness1859
permissiveness1946
c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. iii. l. 120 Wyues and widewes wantounesse heo [sc. Meed] techeþ.
a1400 tr. R. Rolle Oleum Effusum (Harl.) in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1895) I. 190 I ran be þo wantones [c1440 Thornton wanntonnes] of flesch & I fande noght Ihesu.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 31 It wol nat come agayn,..Namoore than wol Malkyns maydenhede Whan she hath lost it in hir wantownesse.
c1450 W. Lichefeld Complaint of God (Lamb. 853) l. 238 in F. J. Furnivall Polit., Relig., & Love Poems (1903) 207 (MED) I haue myspendid my ȝong age In synne, & wantownesse also.
a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 36/1 Hee [sc. Edw. IV] was of youthe greatelye geuen to fleshlye wantonnesse.
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Aii The riotous wantonnesse of Pasiphae.
1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman x. 88 Concerning his [sc. Ovid's] bookes, Amorum and de Arte amandi, the wit..will beare out the wantonnesse.
1673 R. Baxter Christian Directory i. vi. 314 He can much easier tempt..a sanguine or hot tempered person to lust, and wantonness.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 49. ⁋8 That Scene of Wantonness, Messalina's Bed-chamber!
1739 G. Whitefield Contin. Jrnl. 4 Others can spend whole Nights in Chambering and Wantoness, why should Christians be ashamed to sing the Songs of the Lamb?
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xi. 50 To protect the state from the..pollution of wantonness and profaneness.
1873 T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes III. i. 9 Fickleness towards a lover is bad, but fickleness after playing the wife is wantonness.
1931 S. Kaye-Smith Susan Spray iii. 225 What was this but wantonness? His intentions towards her could not be honourable.
1991 Vanity Fair July 125/3 Look at the delicate mix of wantonness and romantic innocence she brings to the lumbering Camelot.
2001 Isis 92 319 [Strabo] refers to the wantonness of the women and men who engaged in sexual escapades at Canobus in Egypt.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > absurdity, incongruity > [noun]
wantonnessc1405
absurdity1529
monstruousness1545
impertinency1573
ridiculousness1573
monstrousness1574
absurd1581
absurdness1582
incongruity1597
fancy1598
delirium1599
monstruosity1604
absurdum1606
foppishness1611
impertinence1616
nonsense1630
impertinentness1645
irrationality1647
monstrosity1651
nonsensicality1652
ridicule1668
ridicule1672
nonsensicalness1674
maggotry1706
preposterousness1727
zanyship1766
ridiculosity1773
drollness1823
stultification1832
nonsensity1834
farcicality1849
cockeyedness1858
the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [noun] > dandy > style or condition of
wantonnessc1405
beauship1696
foppery1697
beauetry1702
foppishness1741
buckism1753
macaronism1775
buckishness1803
dandiness1819
dandyism1819
petit maitreship1822
dandyhood1823
petit maitreism1824
dandification1827
exquisitism1833
beauism1844
dandydomc1850
tigerishness1869
dudedom1883
dudeism1883
dudery1883
dudeness1884
c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 266 Somwhat he lypsed for his wantownesse To make his englyssh sweete vp on his tonge.
4. † b. Caprice, whim. Also: an instance of this. Obsolete.
a. Extravagance or self-indulgence in appetite, expenditure, imagination, etc.; luxuriousness; prodigality, wastefulness; pampering.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > relinquishing > squandering or prodigality > [noun]
overflowingnessOE
wastinga1300
prodigality1340
misdispendingc1390
misspendingc1390
fool-largessec1405
wantonness1448
fool-largec1450
dilapidationc1460
lavish1483
consuminga1538
profusion1545
sumptuosity1550
wastefulness1551
lashing1556
lavishing1574
profuseness1584
lavishness1590
misspense1591
wastening1604
outlashing1611
duck and drake1614
largesse1614
lavishment1630
squandering1632
prodigence1634
dissipation1639
wastry1645
profusiveness1655
high living1656
nepotation1656
extravagancy1666
extravagance1727
profligacy1792
squander1806
profligateness1817
wastrife1818
spendthriftism1862
wasterfulness1884
high-rolling1890
prodigalism1896
spendthriftiness1950
squanderbugging1966
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > lack of moderation or restraint > [noun]
unimetec888
unmethelOE
overdeeda1200
unmetheshipa1250
outragec1325
ragec1330
reveriec1350
delavinessc1380
recolagea1400
dissolutionc1400
superfluityc1405
wantonness1448
intemperancy1532
intemperacy?1541
untemperance?1541
intemperance1547
excess1552
immoderateness1569
intemperateness1571
unbridledness1571
inordinateness1577
untemperateness1578
dissoluteness1580
acrasia1590
acrasy1590
intemperature1602
inordination1615
inordinancya1617
immoderation1640
extravagancy1651
debauch1672
extravagance1676
incontinency1715
extravaganza1754
incontinence1836
unmeasuredness1864
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > [noun] > greediness or voracity
yevernesseOE
greediness1426
wantonness1448
voracity1526
ravenousness1564
gulf1566
wolf1576
swallow1592
canine appetite1609
ravenage1673
polyphagia1693
voraciousness1710
hyperphagia1941
1448 Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Arms) 482 (MED) His flesshe wolde haue charged him with fatnesse, but that the wantonesse of his wombe with trauaile and fastyng he a daunteth.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) iv. xxxvi. f. lxxxiiij The honour..of this maner of peple oweth not to ben acounted..of clothynge of syluer harneys ne wantonesse of his owne persone.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 77 All weilfair, welth and wantones Ar chengit in to wretchitnes.
c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) i. vi. 23 Lynnen shirtes the able doe weare for wantonnes and..bravery.
1601 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Trauellers Breuiat 139 In India and Cambeia they vse it at the buriall of great Lords, in bathes and in other wantonnes.
1636 E. Dacres tr. N. Machiavelli Disc. 1st Decade T. Livius i. ii. 11 Princes had nothing to do but to exceed others in luxurie and wantonness.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 315. ¶12 His Flight..with the particular Description of the Sun, are set forth in all the wantonness of a luxuriant Imagination.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iv. 64 This unrestrained Volubility and Wantonness of Speech is the Occasion of numberless Evils.
1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. 129 Many in the wantonness of their fancy have yielded to the most idle surmises.
1796 F. Burney Camilla III. v. vi. 83 He has therefore turned fop from mere wantonness of time and of talents.
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward II. iii. 67 I have not been cockered in wantonness or indulgence.
1830 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I III. 28 Charles cannot be reproached for exacting monies..from any wantonness of prodigality.
1880 Harper's New Monthly Mag. Nov. 832/2 Out of pure wantonness and a voluptuous disregard for expense.
1915 E. C. Carpenter Cinderella-man ii. 49 Besides, what do we want with money? We paid the rent last week and lived in wantonness on that sonnet.
1941 Times 2 Oct. 5/4 People who out of pure wantonness throw away loaves of bread or even legs of mutton, and are very properly fined for it.
2005 Financial Times 28 May w7/6 Consider these tales of wantonness that whet our desire for something extra: there was Rita de Acosta Lydig who, while the First World War raged, was busy commissioning hand-made shoes by the dozen.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [noun] > carelessness or heedlessness > in evil-doing > instance of
wantonness1531
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [noun] > capriciousness > a caprice or whim
fantasya1450
wantonness1531
humour1533
worm?a1534
will1542
toy?1545
whey-worm1548
wild worm1548
freak1563
crotchet1573
fancy1579
whim-wham1580
whirligig1589
caper1592
megrim1593
spleen1594
kicksey-winsey1599
fegary1600
humorousness1604
curiosity1605
conundrum1607
whimsy1607
windmill1612
buzza1616
capriccioa1616
quirka1616
flama1625
maggota1625
fantasticality1631
capruch1634
gimcrack1639
whimseycado1654
caprich1656
excursion1662
frisk1665
caprice1673
fita1680
grub1681
fantasque1697
whim1697
frolic1711
flight1717
whigmaleery1730
vagary1753
maddock1787
kink1803
fizgig1824
fad1834
whimmery1837
fantod1839
brain crack1853
whimsy-whamsy1871
tic1896
tick1900
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun] > reckless or unjustified wrongdoing > a reckless or unjustifiable act
wantonness1531
maladventure1543
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. v. sig. C.iiiv They speke..omittinge no lettre or sillables as folisshe women often times do of a wantonnesse.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) iv. i. 16 Yet I remember, when I was in France, Yong Gentlemen would be as sad as night Onely for wantonnesse . View more context for this quotation
1624 J. Gee Foot out of Snare 17 Inflecting, fashioning and refashioning their religion according to the will and wantonness of them.
1630 Bp. J. Hall Occas. Medit. §lxxi It is a wantonnesse to complaine of choyse; No Law bindes vs to read all.
a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1959) V. 352 David..comes not to take physick upon wantonnesse; but because the disease is violent.
1664 J. Dryden Rival Ladies Ded. sig. A3v I wish we might at length leave to borrow Words from other Nations, which is now a Wantonness in us, not a Necessity.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. ii. i. 148 It is mere idle Wantonness, to insist upon knowing the Reasons.
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. vi. 58 In mere wantonness, and heart's-ease, I was for buffeting the moon.
1768 S. Johnson Let. 28 May (1992) I. 308 Things..which are prized at high rate by wantonness rather than by use.
1840 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports viii. ix. 1091 They seldom or never eat, but that whatever they do take in, is in mere play or wantonness.
5. Insolence in triumph or prosperity; haughty disregard for others; arrogance. †Also in plural (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > arrogance > [noun]
prideOE
overgartc1175
surquidrya1250
stuntisea1327
arrogance1340
insolencec1386
surquidyc1407
succudryc1425
lordliness1440
arrogancy1477
ogartc1480
wantonness?a1505
stateliness1509
insolencya1513
surquidancea1525
superbityc1540
imperiousness1582
surliness1587
super-arrogation1593
insolentness1594
assumption1609
self-assumption1609
huff1611
imperiosity1618
superarrogancy1620
lordship1633
self-assuming1644
alazony1656
high-handednessa1658
fast1673
arrogantness1756
overbearance1766
swaggera1821
huffishness1841
you-be-damnedness1885
high and mighty1924
a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 549 in Poems (1981) 129 Sa efflated I was in wantones, And clam vpon the fickill quheill sa hie.
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Hiv With sad cyrcumspeccyon correcte my vantonnesse.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iii. f. 233 God..tameth the wantonnesses of some, and of other some he breaketh the vntamed pride.
a1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) ii. 17 Others [of the devils]..may be imployed to stir up, and cherish a spirit of pride and wantonness.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 426. ⁋7 The Heir..could not forbear, in the Wantonnesses of his Heart, to measure the Length and Breadth of his beloved Father.
1779 J. Moore View Society & Manners France I. xliv. 401 Nothing can be a greater check to the wantonness of power.
1816 J. Austen Emma I. v. 75 Weston may grow cross from the wantonness of comfort. View more context for this quotation
1868 M. Pattison Suggestions Acad. Organisation v. 148 Some check on knowledge is highly necessary to prevent it from running riot in the wantonness of its own wealth.
1890 J. H. McCarthy Fr. Revol. I. 22 The wantonness, the licence, the devil-may-careness of the Regency.
1905 E. Wharton House of Mirth i. xiv. 261 And if she knew, then she had deliberately despoiled her friend, and in mere wantonness of power.
1916 E. Gosse in E. Wharton Bk. Homeless 104 The arrogance and wantonness of a military aristocracy balanced by an unquestioning servility of the great bulk of the nation.
2003 New Yorker 29 May 34/1 Anything less than a sustained effort to restore order..would expose the Administration to charges of wantonness and hypocrisy.
6. † b. A person regarded as comparable to this character. Obsolete.
a. Wanton behaviour personified, as the name of an allegorical character in a morality play. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > part or character > [noun] > specific character
Robin Hood1473
wantonness1507
vice1552
pantaloon1592
iniquity1597
burratinea1637
scaramouch1662
Pierrot1726
gracioso1749
eiron1872
alazon1911
toby1946
1507 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1901) III. 369 Item, that nycht, to Wantonnes that sang to the King..to Wantonnes that the King fechit and gert hir sing in the Quenes chamir, xiiij s.
a1586 King Hart l. 449 in W. A. Craigie Maitland Folio MS (1919) I. 268 Wantownnes he went vnto the king And tald him all the cais quhow þat It stude.
1914 W. R. Mackenzie Eng. Moralities from Point of View of Allegory v. 88 Wantonness leads Sensualitie before the King, who at once falls in love with her beauty and leads her to a private chamber.
2003 R. Huebert Performance of Pleasure in Eng. Renaissance Drama i. 1 The pleasures of carnal indulgence are likely to appear only under the sign of allegorical disapproval, personified as Voluptas or Wantonness.
ΚΠ
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. F3v For whats this Edward but a belly god, A tender and lasciuious wantonnes, That thother daie was almost dead for loue. View more context for this quotation
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. G2v Now Iohn of Fraunce I hope, Thou knowest King Edward for no wantonesse, No loue sicke cockney.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1390