Word.ws English Dictionary

wilder

/ˈwaɪldə(ɹ)/US/ˈwaɪldɚ/

wilder is the comparative form 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

Verb

UK/ˈwɪldə(ɹ)/US/ˈwɪldɚ/

wilder (third-person singular simple present wilders, present participle wildering, simple past and past participle wildered)

  1. To bewilder, perplex
    • Now, to smother noise and light,
      Is stolen abroad the wildering night,1922 A. E. Housman, Last Poems XXIV, lines 29-30
    • Now in their hearts those wildered Trojans said That once more they beheld Achilles' self Gigantic in his armour.1913, Smyrnaeus Quintus, The Fall of Troy

Proper noun capitalized: Wilder

Wilder (countable and uncountable, plural Wilders)

  1. (countable) A surname.
  2. A ghost town in California.
  3. A city in Canyon County, Idaho.
  4. An unincorporated community in Johnson County, Kansas.
  5. A city in Campbell County, Kentucky.
  6. A minor city in Jackson County, Minnesota.
  7. An unincorporated community in Fentress County, Tennessee.
  8. A census-designated place and village in the town of Hartford, Windsor County, Vermont.

Forms of wilder

Verb
third-person singular presentwilders
present participlewildering
past participlewildered
pastwildered
Proper noun
pluralWilders

Origin of wilder

From wild.

From wild, probably suggested by wilderness, and as to form by wander.

Words formed from wilder

Phrases with wilder

Words that rhyme with wilder

Questions about wilder

What does wilder mean?
Wilder means to bewilder, perplex.
What is wilder the comparative form of?
Wilder is the comparative form of wild.
What part of speech is wilder?
Wilder can be a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce wilder?
Wilder is pronounced /ˈwaɪldə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the past tense of wilder?
The past tense of wilder is wildered.

Words near wilder in the dictionary

  1. wildened
  2. Wildenhain
  3. wildening
  4. Wildenrath
  5. wildens
  6. wilder
  7. Wilder effect
  8. wilder pee
  9. wilder-pee
  10. wildered
  11. wildering

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wilder (page history and authors); Wilder (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wilder.wav.

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