wilderness
/ˈwɪldɚnəs/ noun B2- Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild.
- A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.
- An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness.
- Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.
- A place or situation that is bewildering and in which one may get lost.
- Preceded by in the: a situation of disfavour or lack of recognition; (specifically, politics) of a politician, political party, etc.: a situation of being out of office.
Plural wildernesses
From the library
“Oh, why is not the world a wilderness?” she exclaimed, throwing herself into the arms of Mademoiselle d’Armilly, her eyes sparkling with the same kind of rage which made Nero wish that the Roman world had but one neck, that he might sever it at a single blow.
He stood with his legs a little separated, his arms folded, his head bowed, as if he were brooding over that enormous wilderness of peat and granite which lay before him.
“Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn.
He was quite alone; on one side was the vast wilderness of the Saint-Lazare, on the other, Paris enshrouded in darkness.
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