Wantonness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Deliberate disregard for what is right, proper, or reasonable; reckless abandon or unrestrained indulgence in behavior or desires
2. deliberate indulgence in immoral or unrestrained behavior marked by a reckless disregard for propriety, consequence, or the rights of others
3. uncontrolled and irresponsible pursuit of pleasure or gratification without regard for ethics, decency, or potential harm

Etymology: "Wanton" is the older word here, and it originally meant something closer to "badly brought up" than "reckless." Its first part, "wan-", is the Old English prefix meaning "lacking," and "-ton" comes from the past participle of "teon," meaning "to bring up" or "to train." A wanton was, literally, someone who had not been properly disciplined or educated. Over the Middle Ages the sense drifted from unruly and undisciplined toward excessive, then toward lewd or unrestrained. "Wantonness" is simply that adjective with the suffix "-ness," which turns a quality into a noun, so the noun inherited all of the adjective's shifting meanings. It arrived in Middle English in forms such as "wantonnesse" and "wantounesse," reflecting the spelling variation of the period. Its modern sense of reckless, unrestrained indulgence is therefore the endpoint of a word whose starting point was a lack of upbringing.

Synonyms: licentiousness, lewdness

Antonyms: chastity, restraint