''wanton'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''wanton'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260313192153-00-⌔

wanton - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

wanton (comparativemore wanton or wantoner, superlativemost wanton or wantonest)

• (archaic) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
  • ✤ Synonyms: anarchic, rampant; see also Thesaurus: wanton
  • ✤ As Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th’ Gods,/They kill us for their sport.¹
  • ✤ ‘Tis the cruel gripe,/That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts,/The hope of better things, the chance to win,/The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus’d,/That at the found of Winter’s hoary wing,/Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds,/Of flutt’ring, loit’ring, cringing, begging, looſe,/And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt/And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.²
• (obsolete) Playful, sportive; merry or carefree.
  • ✤ Synonyms: coltish, frisky, frolicsome; see also Thesaurus: active, Thesaurus: carefree
  • ✤ The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind.³
• Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
  • ✤ Synonyms: lewd, lustful, unchaste; see also Thesaurus: sexually aroused
  • ✤ if wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer: I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with the smallpox: but I must confess I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny […].⁴
  • ✤ I know I ought never to have dreamt of sending that valentine—forgive me, sir—it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self-respect should have done.⁵
  • ✤ People should not marry too young, because, if they do, the children will be weak and female, the wives will become wanton, and the husbands stunted in their growth.⁶
• Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
  • ✤ Synonyms: callous, inhumane, merciless, unjustified
  • ✤ Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character, had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.⁷
  • ✤ Several cases of serious wanton damage have occurred on the new electric trains on the Manchester-Bury line of the London Midland Region during recent weeks.⁸
  • ✤ these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction.⁹
• (archaic) Extravagant, unrestrained, excessive.
  • ✤ Synonyms: lavish, luxuriant, prodigal; see also Thesaurus: excessive
  • ✤ the market price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or less the eagerness of the competition.¹⁰
  • ✤ But do not think it argues change of temper since I wrote the Frère review, or a wanton praise of one man and blame of another.¹¹

Noun

wanton (plural wantons)

• A pampered or coddled person.
  • ✤ Synonyms: cosset, feddle, mollycoddle
  • ✤ I would have thee gone —/And yet no farther than a wanton’ s bird,/That lets it hop a little from her hand,/Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,/And with a silken thread plucks it back again […]¹²
• An overly playful person; a trifler.
  • ✤ Synonyms: footler, fribble, player, sporter, toyer, whiffler
  • ✤ you but dally,/I pray you passe with your best violence,/I am afeard you make a wanton of me.¹³
  • ✤ Peace, my wantons; he will do/More than you can aim unto.¹⁴
  • ✤ This quiet remark serves to remind one, among other things that, Dickens was not without his reasons for a spirit of distrust towards religion by law established, as well as towards sundry other forms of religion—the spirit which, especially in his early career, was often misunderstood as hostility to religion in itself, a wanton mocking at sacred things.¹⁵
• A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
  • ✤ Hyponyms: see Thesaurus: sensualist, Thesaurus: spendthrift
• (archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
  • ✤ Synonyms: player, roué; see also Thesaurus: libertine, Thesaurus: prostitute
  • ✤ …paints with tremendous force the adulteries of the two wantons Aholah and Aholibah, Israel and Judah, and their love of strangers…¹⁶
  • ✤ However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.’s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie—did actually solicit me, did actually say ‘coming home to-night, dearie’ and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.¹⁷

Verb

wanton (third-person singular simple present wantons, present participle wantoning, simple past and past participle wantoned)

• (intransitive) To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
  • ✤ Synonyms: revel, romp
  • ✤ […] We will fetch thee straight/Adonis painted by a running brook,/And Cytherea all in sedges hid,/Which seem to move and wanton with her breath/Even as the waving sedges play wi’ th’ wind.¹⁸
  • ✤ […] Nature here/Wantond as in her prime, and plaid at will/Her Virgin Fancies […]¹⁹
  • ✤ How merrily we would sally into the fields; and strip under the first warmth of the sun; and wanton like young dace in the streams […]²⁰
  • ✤ As for her soft brown hair, it was free to wanton in the winds, save where a strip of velvet restrained it around her brows.²¹
  • ✤ It might well be, said Mrs. McNab, wantoning on with her memories […]²²
• (transitive) To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (most often with away).
  • ✤ Synonyms: lavish, splash out, splurge, throw away
  • ✤ The young man wantoned away his inheritance.
  • ✤ [W]ith this money the King shall wanton away his time in pleasures […]²³
  • ✤ […] Samson, having wantoned away his strength and paying the penalty […]²⁴
  • ✤ And never would he wanton his cause away with wine.²⁵
  • ✤ If either of us felt the respect for George that you imply by your manner, you know perfectly well that we wouldn’t have wantoned away the day as we have.²⁶
• (intransitive) To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
  • ✤ Synonyms: colt, rig; see also Thesaurus: harlotize
  • ✤ Be loving and courteous to your fellow Servants, not gigling or idling out your time, or wantoning in the society of men […]²⁷
  • ✤ Happy he that ſips Eternally ſuch Nectar dovvn, that unconfin’d may Lave, and VVanton there in ſateleſs Draughts of ever ſpringing Beauty— […]²⁸
  • ✤ […] whole herds or flocks of other women securely, and scarce regarded, traverse the park, the play, the opera, and the assembly; and though, for the most part at least, they are at last devoured, yet for a long time do they wanton in liberty, without disturbance or controul.²⁹

Noun

wanton (plural wanton or wantons)

• (Philippines, Singapore) wonton (Chinese dumpling)
  • ✤ Add wanton, chives and vegetables to broth and season with 1 tablespoon salt, ½ teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 chicken cube.³⁰
  • ✤ Spread mayonnaise sparingly on one side of each of the wantons. Now make a stepped sandwich so that you can see about one-third of each type of fish on your serving plate. Start with one wanton, mayonnaise-side up, cover with a slice of tuna add another wanton, mayonnaise-side up, leaving one-third of the tuna showing.³¹
  • ✤ Dumplings, wanton, and spring rolls are typical Han foods.³²
  • ✤ I settled on Chinese takeout for dinner—vegetable lo mein, beef and broccoli, hot and sour soup with wantons and egg rolls.³³
  • ✤ Also in 2012, he [Joey Chestnut] consumed 390 shrimp wantons in eight minutes at the finale of the CP Biggest Eater Competition in Bangkok, Thailand.³⁴

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈwɒntən/
• (General American) enPR: wän’tən, IPA: /ˈwɑntən/
• Audio (US): 🔊
• (Australian) IPA: /ˈwɒntən/, /ˈwɒntɒn/
• Audio (Australian): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɒntən
• Homophone: wonton (some accents)

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Cantonese 雲吞/云吞 (wan${}^4$ tan${}^1$).

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]: ↩

2. 1785, William Cowper, “Book III. The Garden.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 133: ↩

3. 1776, Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 1: ↩

4. 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC: ↩

5. 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC: ↩

6. 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.21: ↩

7. 1811, [Jane Austen], Sense and Sensibility […], volume, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC: ↩

8. 1960 May, “Wanton Damage in Trains”, in Railway Magazine, page 300: ↩

9. 2009 August 10, Ben White, The Guardian: ↩

10. 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I: ↩

11. 1876 January 19, John Ruskin, Letters: ↩

12. c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC,: ↩

13. c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 281, column 2: ↩

14. 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince: ↩

15. 1898, George Gissing, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study: ↩

16. 1891, Mrs. Oliphant, Jerusalem: Its History and Hope: ↩

17. 1936, Anthony Bertram, Like the Phoenix: ↩

18. c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act PROLOGUE,]: ↩

19. 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 294-296: ↩

20. 1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago”, in Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC: ↩

21. 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XI, page 139: ↩

22. 1927 May, Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, London: Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, […], →OCLC, page 217: ↩

23. 1660 May 8 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “April 28th, 1660”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume VIII, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1896, →OCLC, page 290: ↩

24. 1881, Christina Rossetti, “St. Matthias, Apostle”, in Called to Be Saints ‎${}^{[1]}$, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, page 153: ↩

25. 1929, “A Song of an Old General”, in Witter Bynner, Jiang Kanghu, transl., The Jade Mountain ‎${}^{[2]}$, New York: Vintage, published 1972, page 203: ↩

26. 1948, Digby George Gerahty (as Robert Standish), Elephant Walk, New York: Macmillan, 1949, Chapter 15, p. 214,${}^{[3]}$ ↩

27. 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid ‎${}^{[4]}$, London: T. Passinger, page 62: ↩

28. 1700 (date written), Colley Cibber, Love Makes a Man: Or, The Fop’s Fortune. A Comedy. […], London: […] Richard Parker […], Hugh Newman […], and E. Rumbal […], published 1701, →OCLC, Act II, page 19: ↩

29. 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC: ↩

30. 1979, Lucy Lo, “Wanton Soup with Vegetable”, in Chinese Cooking with Lucy Lo: Authentic Mouth-watering Recipes You Can Prepare at Home by a Leading Hong Kong Chef, Sydney, N.S.W.: Horwitz Publications, published 1981, →ISBN, “Beef and Pork” section, page 22, column 2: ↩

31. 1993, George Mure, Jill Mure, “Sashimi Mille Feuille”, in Mures Fish Tales & Tasmanian Seafood, Hobart, Tasmania: Platypus Publishing, →ISBN, “Starters” section, page 63: ↩

32. 2005, Meri Meredith, “Taiwan”, in Dealing with an International Clientele: Communications, Diplomacy and Etiquette (Information Services Management Series), Munich: K. G. Saur Verlag, →ISBN, chapter 10 (Cultures of the World, J–W), page 199: ↩

33. 2013, Cambria Hebert, “Piper”, in Recalled (Death Escorts; 1), →ISBN, page 104: ↩

34. 2013, Geoff Tibballs, “Chestnut Champ”, in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 2014: Dare to Look!, Orlando, Fla.: Ripley Publishing, →ISBN, “Food” section, page 219, column 3: ↩

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