Word.ws English Dictionary

wilde

/ˈwaɪld/

wilde is the obsolete spelling of wild.

Meaning of wild

Adjective

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)

  1. Especially, being of the wild type: being of an unbroken ancestral line of undomesticated animals, as opposed to being feral, being an undomesticated animal whose ancestors were domesticated.
    • Near-synonym: indigenous
    Antonyms:
    tame
  2. Being in the wild, by any pathway (whether by being of the wild type, by being feral since birth, or by being feral after escape from domesticated life).
    Synonyms:
    feral, indomite, tameless
    Antonyms:
    tame
  3. From or relating to wild creatures.
    • wild honey
  4. Unrestrained or uninhibited.
    • I was filled with wild rage when I discovered the infidelity, and punched a hole in the wall.
  5. Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
    • The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.
  6. Of unregulated and varying frequency.
    • The aircraft's navigational equipment should not be powered from the wild AC bus except in an emergency, as its computers can be damaged by variations in electrical frequency.

See all 26 meanings of wild

Proper noun capitalized: Wilde

Wilde (plural Wildes)

  1. A surname from Middle English.
    1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Oscar Wilde, Irish author, playwright, and poet (1845–1900), whose contemporary literary success, notably A Picture of Dorian Gray, was eventually soured by a gross indecency trial that became a cause célèbre.
      • A dread sunny day / So I meet you at the cemetry [sic] gates / Keats and Yeats on your side / While Wilde is on mine1986, The Smiths, “Cemetry Gates”, in The Queen is Dead

Forms of wilde

pluralWildes

Words formed from wilde

Words that rhyme with wilde

Questions about wilde

What does wilde mean?
Wilde means a surname from Middle English.
What is wilde the obsolete spelling of?
Wilde is the obsolete spelling of wild.
What part of speech is wilde?
Wilde is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce wilde?
Wilde is pronounced /ˈwaɪld/.

Words near wilde in the dictionary

  1. wildcrafted
  2. wildcrafter
  3. wildcrafters
  4. wildcrafting
  5. wildcrafts
  6. wilde
  7. Wildean
  8. wildebeest
  9. wildebeesten
  10. wildebeests
  11. Wildeblood

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wilde (page history and authors); Wilde (page history and authors); wild (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-Wilde.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Wilde.wav.

Cite this entry: “wilde.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wilde. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.