wanton.

1. Deliberately harmful or reckless without a reasonable justification.

2. Showing little restraint in desires, conduct, or excess.

3. Sexually unrestrained or openly desirous, in older and usually disapproving language.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• wanton destruction
• wanton cruelty

On the page

Wanton destruction had reduced the orchard to broken stumps.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more wanton; superlative most wanton when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.