From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwantonwan‧ton /ˈwɒntən $ ˈwɒːn-, ˈwɑːn-/ adjective 1 HARM/BE BAD FORdeliberately harming someone or damaging something for no reason an act of wanton aggression a wanton disregard for life2 old-fashionedSYSEX/HAVE SEX WITH a wanton woman is considered immoral because she has sex with a lot of men3 formalCONTROL uncontrolled wanton growth —wantonly adverb —wantonness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
wanton• The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, took a tough line, saying that he would not tolerate wanton destruction and violence.• the wanton killing of civilians• She rolls her eyes, and gets this wanton look on her face whenever she tells me how sexy he is.• Feeling drugged and quite incredibly wanton, she moved her fingers to his jaw.• It tells of homes set aflame, planes dropping turpentine bombs and the wanton shooting of unarmed black men on the street.Origin wanton (1300-1400) wan- “wrongly, badly” (from Old English wan “lacking”) + towen, past participle of tee “to pull, bring up, educate” ((11-16 centuries)) (from Old English teon) 