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

wantonness - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

  • (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
    • ✤ The ſpirit of vvantonness is, ſure, ſcared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-ſimple, vvith fine and recovery, he vvill never, I think, in the vvay of vvaſte, attempt us again.1
    • ✤ A vvantonneſſe in vvealth, methinks I agree not vvith,/Tis ſuch a trouble to be married too,/And have a thouſand things of great importance,/Jevvells and plates, and fooleries moleſt mee,/To have a mans brains vvhimſied with his vvealth: […]2
    • ✤ A Svveet diſorder in the dreſſe/Kindles in cloathes a vvantonneſſe: […]3
    • ✤ The desert Pelican had built her nest/In that deep solitude./And now returned from distant flight/Fraught with the river stream,/Her load of water had disburthened there./Her young in the refreshing bath/Sported all wantonness; […]4
    • ✤ The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.5
  • (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
    • ✤ These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.6

Etymology

From Middle English wantonnesse, wantonesse, wantounesse, wantownesse, equivalent to wanton +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈwɒntənnəs/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (US) enPR: wän’tənnəs, IPA: /ˈwɑntənnəs/
  • (Australian) IPA: /ˈwɒntənnəs/, /ˈwɒntɒnnəs/

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]: ↩

  2. 1624 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act II, scene[ii], page 16: ↩

  3. 1648, Robert Herrick, “Delight in Disorder”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 29: ↩

  4. 1801, Robert Southey, “The Fifth Book”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume I, London: […] [F] or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC, pages 258–259: ↩

  5. 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster[London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC: ↩

  6. 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, volume 3, Boston: Little Brown, page 366: ↩

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