wantonly

comparative more wantonly · superlative most wantonly

1. In a wanton manner.

   I believe that I have no enemy on earth, and none surely would have been so wicked as to destroy me wantonly.

   1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 166

   2 more examples

   Undoubtedly Madam—and it has always been a sentiment of mine—that to propagate a malicious Truth wantonly—is more despicable than to falsify from Revenge […]

   1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.ii

   You would say Stephen Miller, but Miller’s too hidden to qualify as a front-of-house henchman among the US president’s court of grotesques. Stephen’s clearly been judged so wantonly horrifying that the administration must keep him out of public view.

   2026 April 17, Marina Hyde, “Is the pope Catholic? JD Vance thinks he has an answer”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 May 2026