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Wild vs Headlong - What's the difference?

wild | headlong | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between wild and headlong

is that wild is untamed; not domesticated while headlong is precipitous.

As adverbs the difference between wild and headlong

is that wild is inaccurately; not on target while headlong is with the head first or down.

As verbs the difference between wild and headlong

is that wild is to commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang while headlong is to precipitate.

As a noun wild

is the undomesticated state of a wild animal.

As a proper noun Wild

is {{surname|from=Middle English}} for a wild person, or for someone living in uncultivated land.

wild

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Untamed; not domesticated.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.
  • * Milton
    • The woods and desert caves, / With wild thyme and gadding vine o'ergrown.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
    • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue , volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • (senseid) Unrestrained or uninhibited.
  • Raucous, unruly, or licentious.
  • Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=August 7, author=Chris Bevan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Man City 2-3 Man Utd , passage=City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.}}
  • Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
  • Enthusiastic.
  • Inaccurate.
  • Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
    • a wild roadstead
  • (nautical) Hard to steer; said of a vessel.
  • (mathematics, of a knot) Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

    • Antonyms

    * (mathematics) tame

    Derived terms

    * in the wild * walk on the wild side * wild allspice * wild and woolly * wild animal * wild balsam apple * wild basil * wild blueberry * wild boar * wild bugloss * wild camomile * wild card * wildcard * wildcarrot * wild cat * wildcat * wildcat strike * wildcatter * wild celery * wild cherry * wild child * wildcrafting * wild cumin * wild drake * wildebeest * wild elder * wilden * wilder * wilderness * wildest * wild-eyed * wildfire * wildflower * wildfowl * wild geranium * wild ginger * wild goose * wild goose chase * wild-goose chase * wild hyacinth * wilding * wild Irishman * wildish * wild land * wild licorice * wildlife * wildly * wild mammee * wild marjoram * wild mustard * wildness * wild oat * wild pieplant * wild pigeon * wild pink * wild pitch * wild plantain * wild plum * wild purslane * wild rice * wild rye * wild Spaniard * wild strawberry * wildstyle * wild turkey * wild vanilla * Wild West * wildwood

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Inaccurately; not on target.
    • The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The undomesticated state of a wild animal
    • After mending the lion's leg, we returned him to the wild
  • (chiefly, in the plural) a wilderness
  • * 1730–1774 , Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
    • Thus every good his native wilds impart
    Imprints the patriot passion on his heart;
    And e’en those ills that round his mansion rise
    Enhance the bliss his scanty funds supplies.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
  • * 1989 , David E. Pitt, Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours , New York Times (April 22, 1989), page 1:
  • *:: ...Chief of Detectives Robert Colangelo, who said the attacks appeared unrelated to money, race, drugs, or alcohol, said that some of the 20 youths brought in for questioning has told investigators that the crime spree was the product of a pastime called "wilding".
  • *:: "It's not a term that we in the police had heard before," the chief said, noting that the police were unaware of any similar incident in the park recently. "They just said, 'We were going wilding.' In my mind at this point, it implies that they were going to raise hell."...

    • Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    headlong

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • With the head first or down.
  • With an unrestrained forward motion.
    • Figures out today show the economy plunging headlong into recession.
  • Rashly; precipitately; without deliberation.

    • Antonyms

    * (l) (UK dialect)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Precipitous.
  • Plunging downwards head foremost.
  • Rushing forward without restraint.
  • (figuratively) Reckless, impetuous.
  • * 1869 , RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone , II:
    • “Time is up,” cried another boy, more headlong than head-monitor.

    Derived terms

    * headlongness * headlongs

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To precipitate.
  • * 1862 , Thomas Adams, The works of Thomas Adams :
    • If a stranger be setting his pace and face toward some deep pit, or steep rock — such a precipice as the cliffs of Dover — how do we cry aloud to have him return ? yet in mean time forget the course of our own sinful ignorance, that headlongs us to confusion.
  • * 1905 , Liberty Hyde Bailey, The outlook to nature :
    • Carriages went up and down in endless pageant. Trolley-cars rushed by, clanging and grinding as they headlonged into the side streets.