(wilds, wilder, wildest)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
Wild animals or plants live or grow in natural surroundings and are not looked after by people.
We saw two more wild cats creeping towards us in the darkness...
The lane was lined with wild flowers.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
2.
Wild land is natural and is not used by people.
Elmley is one of the few wild areas remaining in the South East.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
• wildness
...the wildness of the mountains.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
The wilds of a place are the natural areas that are far away from towns.
They went canoeing in the wilds of Canada.
N-PLURAL: the N
4.
Wild is used to describe the weather or the sea when it is stormy.
The wild weather did not deter some people from swimming in the sea.
= stormy
ADJ: usu ADJ n
5.
Wild behaviour is uncontrolled, excited, or energetic.
The children are wild with joy...
As George himself came on stage they went wild...
They marched into town to the wild cheers of the inhabitants.
ADJ: oft v-link ADJ with n
• wildly
As she finished each song, the crowd clapped wildly.
ADV: ADV with v
6.
If you describe someone or their behaviour as wild, you mean that they behave in a very uncontrolled way.
The house is in a mess after a wild party.
ADJ
• wildly
Five people were injured as Reynolds slashed out wildly with a kitchen knife.
ADV: ADV with v
• wildness
He had come to love the danger and the wildness of his life.
N-UNCOUNT
7.
If someone is wild, they are very angry. (INFORMAL)
For a long time I daren't tell him I knew, and when I did he went wild.
= mad, crazy
ADJ: usu v-link ADJ
8.
A wild idea is unusual or extreme. A wild guess is one that you make without much thought.
Browning's prediction is no better than a wild guess.
ADJ: ADJ n
• wildly
'Thirteen?' he guessed wildly.
ADV
9.
10.
If you are wild about someone or something, you like them very much. (INFORMAL)
I'm just wild about Peter, and he's just wild about me...
= be crazy about
PHRASE: V inflects
11.
Animals that live in the wild live in a free and natural state and are not looked after by people.
Fewer than a thousand giant pandas still live in the wild.
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
12.
If something or someone, especially a child, runs wild, they behave in a natural, free, or uncontrolled way.
Everything that could grow was running wild for lack of attention...
PHRASE: V inflects
13.
beyond your
wildest dreams: see
dream
in your
wildest dreams: see
dream
to
sow your
wild oats: see
oats