wilderness

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a bewildering profusion

   the duties of citizenship are lost sight of in the wilderness of interests of individuals and groups

2. 2
   noun

   a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition

   it was a wilderness preserved for the hawks and mountaineers

3. 3
   noun

   a state of disfavor, in politics

   They led the Democratic party back from the wilderness.

4. 4
   noun

   Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild.

   For ſtill he traueild through wide waſtfull ground, / That nought but deſert wilderneſſe ſhewed all around.

5. 5
   noun

   A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.

   For now I ſtand as one vpon a rocke, / Inuirond with a wildernes of ſea, / VVho markes the vvaxing tide, grovv vvaue by vvaue, / Expecting euer vvhen ſome enuious ſurge, / VVill in his briniſh bovvels ſvvallow him.

6. 6
   noun

   An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness.

   And now with nerves new-brac'd and ſpirits chear'd / We tread the wilderneſs, whoſe well-roll'd walks / With curvature of ſlow and eaſy ſweep, / Deception innocent—give ample ſpace / To narrow bounds.

7. 7
   noun

   Unrefinedness; wildness.

   What ſhould I thinke, / Heauen ſhield my Mother plaid my Father faire: / For ſuch a warped ſlip of wilderneſſe / Nere iſſu'd from his blood.

8. 8
   noun

   Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.

   Tuball. One of them ſhewed me a ring that hee had of your daughter for a Monkey. / Shy[lock]. Out vpon her: thou tortur'ſt me Tuball, it was my Turkies, I had it of Leah when I was a Batchellor: I would not haue giuen it for a wilderneſſe of Monkies.

Etymology

From Middle English wildernes, wildernesse (“desolate or uninhabited place, desolation”) [and other forms], and then either: * from Middle English wilderne (“deserted or uninhabited place, wilderness; land not yet settled”) [and other forms] (from Old English wilddeōren (“savage, wild”); see below) + -nes, -nesse (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states); or * from Old English *wildēornes, *wilddēornes, either from wilddēor (“wild animal”) [and other forms] or wilddēoren (“savage, wild”) (from wilddēor + -en (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘consisting of; material…