1. Immoral or unchaste; lewd. 2a. Gratuitously cruel; merciless. b. Marked by unprovoked, gratuitous maliciousness; capricious and unjust: wanton destruction.3. Unrestrainedly excessive: wanton extravagance; wanton depletion of oil reserves.4. Luxuriant; overabundant: wanton tresses.5. Frolicsome; playful. 6. Undisciplined; spoiled. 7.Obsolete Rebellious; refractory.
VERB:
Inflected forms: wan·toned, wan·ton·ing, wan·tons
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
To act, grow, or move in a wanton manner; be wanton.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
To waste or squander extravagantly.
NOUN:
1. One who is immoral, lewd, or licentious. 2. One that is playful or frolicsome. 3. One that is undisciplined or spoiled.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English wantowen : wan-, not, lacking (from Old English; see eu- in Appendix I) + towen, past participle of teen, to bring up (from Old English ton, to lead, draw; see deuk- in Appendix I).
w
n
t
n
on, to lead, draw; see deuk- in Appendix I).
