wantonness

English

Etymology

From wanton +‎ -ness.

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

  1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
    • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV scene ii:
      The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 16:
      The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.
  2. (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
    • 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, Little Brown (Boston), v. 3, p. 366:
      These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.
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