HOW TO PRONOUNCE
wanton
/ˈwɑntən/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does wanton mean?
adjective
- Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
- Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
noun
- A pampered or coddled person.
More meanings (10)
noun
- An overly playful person; a trifler.
- A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
- wonton (Chinese dumpling)
- (archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
verb
- To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
- To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (most often with away).
- To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
adjective
- (archaic) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
- (obsolete) Playful, sportive; merry or carefree.
- (archaic) Extravagant, unrestrained, excessive.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈwɑntən/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
O, ’tis the spite of hell, the fiend’s arch-mock, To lip a wanton in a secure couch, And to suppose her chaste!
Productive work for children has the advantage that its discipline is the discipline of impersonal necessity, not that of wanton personal coercion.
More book examples (3)
But being once past, Hopeful looked after him, and espied on his back a paper with this inscription, "Wanton professor and damnable apostate".
It seemed that this garden, created in olden days to conceal wanton mysteries, had been transformed and become fitted to shelter chaste mysteries.
I shall probably be charged with an unwarrantable, if not a wanton and reckless disregard of the rights and properties of private life.