/'wɪldənɪs; `wɪldɚnɪs/
n (usu sing 通常作单数)
1 area of wild uncultivated land; desert 未开垦的荒地; 荒漠; 沙漠
*the Arctic wilderness 北极的荒原.
2 ~ (of sth) area where plants, esp weeds, grow in an uncontrolled way 植物（尤指杂草）丛生的地方
*The garden is turning into a wilderness. 这个园子逐渐变成杂草丛生之处.
* (fig 比喻) a wilderness of old abandoned cars 旧汽车的弃置地.
3 (idm 习语) in the `wildernessno longer in an important or influential (esp political) position 不再处于重要的或有影响的地位（尤指政治上）
*After a few years in the wilderness he was reappointed to the Cabinet. 他消沉了几年之後, 又获任命进入了内阁.

n [C usually singular]
[Language: Old English;Origin: wildeornes 'land where wild animals live', from wild deor 'wild animal']
a large area of land that has never been developed or farmed
　the Alaskan wilderness
a place that seems no longer used or cared for by anyone
　The garden was a wilderness.
　The south side of the city had become a lawless wilderness.
in/from/out of the wilderness
someone who is in the wilderness does not have power or is not involved in something in an important way at a particular time
　the re-emergence of Richard Nixon from the political wilderness in 1968