Wil"der*ness (?), n. [OE. wildernesse, wilderne,probably from AS. wildor a wild beast; cf. D. wildernis wilderness. See Wilder, v. t.]
1. A tract of land, or a region, uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain; a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind.
The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply.
Waller.
2. A disorderly or neglected place.
Cowper.
3. Quality or state of being wild; wildness. [Obs.]
These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint hands.
Will keep from wilderness with ease.
Milton.
© Webster 1913. | 
