Main Entry:: wil·der·ness
Pronunciation:: \ˈwil-dər-nəs\
Function:: noun
Etymology:: Middle English, from wildern wild, from Old English wilddēoren of wild beasts
Date:: 13th century

1 a (1): a tract or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings (2): an area essentially undisturbed by human activity together with its naturally developed life community b: an empty or pathless area or region <in remote wildernesses of space groups of nebulae are found — G. W. Gray died 1960> c: a part of a garden devoted to wild growth2obsolete : wild or uncultivated state3 a: a confusing multitude or mass : an indefinitely great number or quantity <I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys — Shakespeare> b: a bewildering situation <those moral wildernesses of civilized life — Norman Mailer>

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