Wanton vs Want - What's the difference?
wanton | want |
(obsolete) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
* 1605 , William Shakespeare, King Lear , IV.1:
Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones :
* 1874 , Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd :
* 1946 , (Bertrand Russell), History of Western Philosophy , I.21:
(obsolete) Playful, sportive; being merry or carefree (often used figuratively).
* 1776 , Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , vol. 1:
(obsolete) Self-indulgent, fond of excess; luxurious.
* 1776 , Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations , Book I:
Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
* 1811 , Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility :
* 2009 , Ben White, The Guardian , 10 Aug 2009:
(obsolete) Extravagant, unrestrained; excessive (of speech or thought).
* 1876 , John Ruskin, Letters , 19 Jan 1876:
A pampered or coddled person.
* Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
An overly playful person; a trifler.
* Shakespeare
* Ben Jonson
A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
(archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
* Milton
* Lamb
*
To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (often with away ).
To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
To wish for or to desire (something).
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* Dryden
To lack, not to have (something).
*, II.3.7:
* James Merrick
* Addison
(colloquially with verbal noun as object) To be in need of; to require (something).
* 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 2
(dated) To be in a state of destitution; to be needy; to lack.
* Ben Jonson
* Alexander Pope
(countable) A desire, wish, longing.
(countable, often, followed by of) Lack, absence.
* , King Henry VI Part 2 , act 4, sc. 8:
* :
(uncountable) Poverty.
* Jonathan Swift
Something needed or desired; a thing of which the loss is felt.
* Paley
(UK, mining) A depression in coal strata, hollowed out before the subsequent deposition took place.
As an adjective wanton
is (obsolete) undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.As a noun wanton
is a pampered or coddled person.As a verb wanton
is to rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.As a proper noun want is
a personification of want.wanton
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- As Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th' Gods, / They kill us for their sport.
- if wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer: I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with the smallpox: but I must confess I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny [...].
- I know I ought never to have dreamt of sending that valentine—forgive me, sir—it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self-respect should have done.
- People should not marry too young, because, if they do, the children will be weak and female, the wives will become wanton , and the husbands stunted in their growth.
- The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, of to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind.
- the market price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or less the eagerness of the competition.
- Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character, had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.
- these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction.
- But do not think it argues change of temper since I wrote the Frère review, or a wanton praise of one man and blame of another.
Synonyms
* (lewd) lewd, lustful, unchaste * (capriciously violent) inhumane, insolent, malicious, merciless * (abundant and luxuriant) abundant, extravagant, lavish, luxuriant, prodigal, unrestrained * frolicsome, playful * (undisciplined) undisciplined, unrulyDerived terms
* wanton kittens make sober catsNoun
(en noun)- I would have thee gone — / And yet no farther than a wanton' s bird, / That lets it hop a little from her hand, / Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, / And with a silken thread plucks it back again
- I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
- Peace, my wantons ; he will do / More than you can aim unto.
Verb
(en verb)- Nature here wantoned as in her prime.
- How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams!
- The young man wantoned away his inheritance.
want
English
Alternative forms
* waunt (obsolete)Verb
(en verb)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.}}
- The disposition, the manners, and the thoughts are all before it; where any of those are wanting' or imperfect, so much ' wants or is imperfect in the imitation of human life.
- he that hath skill to be a pilot wants' a ship; and he that could govern a commonwealth' wants means to exercise his worth, hath not a poor office to manage.
- Not what we wish, but what we want , / Oh, let thy grace supply!
- I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
- The mowing-machine always wanted oiling. Barnet turned it under Jacob's window, and it creaked—creaked, and rattled across the lawn and creaked again.
- You have a gift, sir (thank your education), / Will never let you want .
- For as in bodies, thus in souls, we find / What wants in blood and spirits, swelled with wind.
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb. SeeSynonyms
* (desire) set one's heart on, wish for, would like * (lack) be without * (require) need, be in need ofDerived terms
* I want to know * want-away * wanted * want for * wanting *Noun
(poverty)- [H]eavens and honour be witness, that no want of resolution in me, but only my followers' base and ignominious treasons, makes me betake me to my heels.
- For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
- For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
- For want of a horse the rider was lost.
- For want of a rider the battle was lost.
- For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
- And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
- Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want .
- Habitual superfluities become actual wants .
