wantonness

1 disposition to willfully inflict pain and suffering on others the barbaric wantonness with which the guards treated the prisoners of war Synonyms atrociousness, atrocity, barbarity, barbarousness, brutality, cruelness, fiendishness, heartlessness, inhumanity, inhumanness, sadism, savageness, savagery, truculence, viciousness, crueltyRelated Words hard-heartedness, mercilessness, pitilessness, ruthlessness, unfeelingness; fellness, ferociousness, ferocity, fierceness, grimness; bloodlust, bloodthirstiness, murderousness, sanguineness, sanguinity; cattiness, despitefulness, hatefulness, malevolence, maliciousness, malignity, meanness, nastiness, spitefulness; hardhandedness, harshness, heavy-handedness, oppressivenessNear Antonyms tenderness, warmheartedness, warmness, warmth; charitableness, clemency, leniency, mercifulness, mercy, pityAntonyms benignity, compassion, good-heartedness, humaneness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindness, sympathy, tenderheartedness

2 the quality or state of being obscene novels characterized chiefly by their sheer wantonness Synonyms bawdiness, blueness, coarseness, crudeness, crudity, dirt, dirtiness, filth, filthiness, foulness, grossness, impureness, impurity, indecency, lasciviousness, lewdness, nastiness, profanity, raunch, raunchiness, ribaldry, smut, smuttiness, vulgarity, obscenityRelated Words broadness, earthiness, gaminess, raciness, saltiness, suggestiveness; immodesty, indecorousness, indelicacy, indelicateness, lowness, unbecomingness; lechery; depravedness, depravity, kinkiness, naughtiness, perverseness, perversion, perversity, pervertedness, wickedness; exceptionability, objectionableness, unacceptability, undesirability; reprehensibility, reprehensibleness; abusiveness, scurrilousness; atrociousness, atrocity, infamy, loathsomeness, offensiveness, repellency, repugnance, repulsiveness; distastefulness, obnoxiousness, unpleasantnessNear Antonyms priggery, priggishness, primness, prudery, prudishness, puritanism; correctness, decency, decorousness, decorum, seemliness; appropriateness, fitness, suitability, suitableness; immaculateness, perfection, purity, spotlessness