wilderness
1 Americannoun
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a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals; a tract of wasteland.
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a tract of land officially designated as such and protected by the U.S. government.
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any desolate tract, as of open sea.
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a part of a garden set apart for plants growing with unchecked luxuriance.
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a bewildering mass or collection.
noun
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a wooded area in NE Virginia: several battles fought here in 1864 between armies of Grant and Lee.
noun
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a wild, uninhabited, and uncultivated region
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any desolate tract or area
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a confused mass or collection
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a person, group, etc, making a suggestion or plea that is ignored
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no longer having influence, recognition, or publicity
noun
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the barren regions to the south and east of Palestine, esp those in which the Israelites wandered before entering the Promised Land and in which Christ fasted for 40 days and nights
Related Words
See desert 1.
Etymology
Origin of wilderness
1150–1200; Middle English; Old English *wil ( d ) dēornes, equivalent to either wil ( d ) dēor wild beast ( wild, deer ) + -nes -ness, or wilddēoren wild, savage ( wilddēor + -en -en 2 ) + ( -n ) es -ness; probably reinforced by Middle English wildernes, genitive of wildern wilderness (noun use of Old English wilddēoren ), in phrases like wildernes land land of wilderness
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The stock spent years in the wilderness afterward, falling to as low as $1.50 in July 2022 from a 2017 closing high of $99.61.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
Sometimes hungry villagers walk for more than three hours into the wilderness before locating the trees.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
He’s understood in Ireland as a canny political operator who led his boring center-right party, Fianna Fáil, back to power after a decade in the wilderness.
From Salon • Mar. 18, 2026
In the 1960s, a shaky film shot in the wilderness helped launch the Bigfoot industry, enriching and then upending the lives of the men behind it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
But they missed their friends and the wilderness and the island.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.