Meanings
comparative more wonted · superlative most wonted
- Usual, customary, habitual, or accustomed.
2008 (tr.?), Lodovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso But not with wonted welcome;—inly moved …
5 more examples
They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d / With th’Heliconian maides for mayſtery; / Of whom they ouer-comen, were depriu’d / Of their proud beautie, and th’one moyity / Transform’d to fiſh, for their bold ſurquedry, / But th’vpper halfe their hew retayned ſtill, / And their ſweet skill in wonted melody; / Which euer after they abuſd to ill, / T’allure weake traueillers, whom gotten they did kill.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 31, pages 370–371Rose Villa has once again resumed its wonted appearance; the dining-room furniture has been replaced; the tables are as nicely polished as formerly; the horsehair chairs are ranged against the wall, as regularly as ever [...]
1836, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Macrone, […], →OCLCBut the oath is alterable; and in the wonted fluctuations of parties not improbably it will undergo alteration, assuming such a form, perhaps, as not to bar the admission into the National Legislature of men who represent the populations lately in revolt.
1866, Herman Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, SupplementI had occasion […] to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, […], and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLCSuperficially, the affairs of 'Every Other Week' settled into their wonted form again, and for Fulkerson they seemed thoroughly reinstated.
1889, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecommonly used or practiced; usual
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*wenh₁-“to wish, love”
- Proto-Germanic*wunô“custom, practice”
- Old Englishwuna“custom, habit, practice; usual, wonted”
- Middle Englishwoonted“usual, customary”
- Englishwonted
From Middle English woonted (“usual, customary”), from wont (“custom, habit, practice”), alteration of wone (“custom, habit, practice”), from Old English wuna (“custom, habit, practice; usual, wonted”), from Proto-Germanic *wunô (“custom, practice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Old Frisian wona, wuna (“custom”), Old High German giwona (“custom”). More at wont, wone.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian привичен, обичаен
- привичен (privičen)usual, customary
- обичаен (običaen)usual, customary
French habitué
- habituéusual, customary
Hungarian szokott, megszokott
- szokottusual, customary
- megszokottusual, customary
Latin suētus
- suētususual, customary
Romanian obișnuit
- obișnuitusual, customary
Russian привы́чный
- привы́чный (privýčnyj)usual, customary
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
wonted. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonted
“wonted.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonted. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wonted,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonted.
Source: wonted on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.