Wayward

Definition: Wayward

Wayward

Adjective

1. Resistant to guidance or discipline; "Mary Mary quite contrary"; "an obstinate child with a violent temper"; "a perverse mood"; "wayward behavior".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "wayward" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Etymology: Wayward \Way"ward\, adjective. [from Old English expression weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]. (Websters 1913)

Synonyms: Wayward

Caprice

Adjective: capricious; erratic, eccentric, fitful, hysterical; full of whims; Noun: maggoty; inconsistent, fanciful, fantastic, whimsical, crotchety, kinky, particular, humorsome, freakish, skittish, wanton, wayward; contrary; captious; arbitrary; unconformable; penny wise and pound foolish; fickle; (irresolute); frivolous, sleeveless, giddy, volatile.

Changeableness

Unstaid, inconstant; unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled; fluctuating; Verb: restless; agitated; erratic, fickle; irresolute; capricious; touch and go; inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic; vibratory; vagrant, wayward; desultory; afloat; alternating; alterable, plastic, mobile; transient; wavering.

Obstinacy

Willful, self-willed, perverse; resty, restive, restiff; pervicacious, wayward, refractory, unruly; heady, headstrong; entete; contumacious; crossgrained.

Sullenness

Cross, crossgrained; perverse, wayward, humorsome; restiff, restive; cantankerous, intractable, exceptious, sinistrous, deaf to reason, unaccommodating, rusty, froward; cussed.

Crosswords: Wayward

Wayward husband comes to his senses, returns to his wife, with whom he has established a long and sustaining love. (Network; writing credit: Paddy Chayefsky)

I love you like the Pilgrim loves the Holy Land, like the wayfarer loves his wayward ways, like the immigrant that I am loves America, and the blind man the memory of his sighted days. (Four Friends; writing credit: Steve Tesich)

Wayward Wives (1968)

The Wayward Hat (1960)

Wayward (1932)

The Wayward Dog (1921)

Farmer Al Falfa's Wayward Pup (1917)

THE WAYWARD WIND� (performing artist: Gogi Grant�)

CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON (performing artist: KANSAS)

Carry On Wayward Son (performing artist: The Oak Ridge Boys)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Hills, Hawgs & Ho Chi Minh: More Tales of a Wayward Runner (reference)

• Hunter Book: Wayward (reference)

• My Lady Wayward (reference)

• Saga of a Wayward Sailor (reference)

• The Wayward Bus (Twentieth Century Classics Series) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Crest of the Stars - Wayward Soldiers (Vol. 3) (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees (reference)

• Wayward Genius of Martin Newell (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The unexpectedly varied surface of a wayward piece of space debris has given astronomers new ...Credit: NASA.

Wayward.Credit: Library of Congress.

Wayward.Credit: Library of Congress.

Wayward.Credit: Library of Congress.

Wayward.Credit: Library of Congress.

Wayward.Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "wayward": become wayward ♦ wayward boy. Additional references.

Ending with "wayward": once-wayward.

Albanian

ters (cranky, cross-grained, Froward, gruff, grumpy, impertinent, perverse), tekanjoz (capricious, faddish, faddy, freakish, temperamental, wanton, whimsical), kokëfortë (balky, bullheaded, contrary, cussed, dogged, hard bitten, hardheaded, headstrong, hidebound, impracticable, intractable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, recalcitrant, self willed, self-opinionated, stickler, stiff necked, strong-willed, stubborn, urgent, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), i sertë (dour, hard, hard boiled, hard-fisted, harsh, iron-bound, ornery, rigid, rigorous, rough, severe, steely, stern, stiff), i paqëndrueshëm (changeable, cranky, fickle, fluent, fluid, inconsequential, inconstant, infirm, labile, mutable, non-persistent, protean, rocky, soft, tipsy, tottering, unequable, unstable, unsteady, variable, volatile, waggly), i pabindur (contumacious, disobedient, indocile, licentious, naughty, perverse, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, unamenable, unpersuadable). (various references)

Arabic 

‏متقلب (capricious, changeable, changeful, choppy, fickle, flighty, fluctuant, fluky, freakish, incalculable, inconsistent, inconstant, jumpy, mercurial, mobile, moody, mutable, reversible, rough and tumble, shaky, skittish, temperamental, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, variable, versatile, volatile, wavering, weather vane, whimsical, yeasty), ‏غير مركز (scatter-brained, watery), ‏عاص (disobedient, insurgent, rebellious, recusant), ‏صعب المراس (awkward, churlish, indocile, intractable, problem, sticky, ungainly, ungovernable, unruly, untoward), ‏شكس (cross-grained, discordant, fractious, petulant, pungent, shrewish, tough, untoward). (various references)

Bulgarian 

своеволен (anarchic, anarchical, arbitrary, headstrong, high handed, masterful, opinionated, recalcitrant, self willed, self-opinionated, unauthorized, unmanageable, untoward, unwarranted, willful), своенравен (capricious, crotchety, perverse, temperamental, vagarious, wilful, wrongheaded, wry), капризен (capricious, erratic, faddish, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, fastidious, fickle, fractious, freakish, freaky, fretful, ill, inconstant, maggoty, particular, petulant, skittish, tricksy, vagarious, vagrant, whimsical), опак (cantankerous, contrary, crabby, cranky, cross-grained, perverse, rambunctious, restive, reverse, wrong), непостоянен (astatic, capricious, casual, changeable, changeful, discontinuous, erratic, fickle, fluctuating, fluid, impermanent, inconstant, irregular, liquid, lubricous, mobile, mutable, non-persistent, seesaw, sporadic, streaky, uncertain, unequable, uneven, unreliable, unstable, unsteady, vagarious, variable, variant, volatile, whimsical, yo-yo), непокорен (contumacious, disaffected, disobedient, disorderly, indocile, insubordinate, rambunctious, recalcitrant, refractory, repugnant, restive, tumultuous, unbowed, uncontrollable, undutiful, unfilial, unruly, unsubdued, unsubmissive, untoward). (various references)

Czech

vrtošivý (erratic, fanciful, incalculable, temperamental), umínìný (headstrong, hell-bent, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, refractory, self-opinionated, stubborn, wilful, willful), svévolný (arbitrary, gratuitous, self-inflicted, wanton, wilful, willful), svéhlavý (fractious, headstrong, pigheaded, restive, stiff necked, wilful, willful), nevyzpytatelný (enigmatic, impenetrable, inapprehensive, inscrutable, unfathomable, unsearchable), neovladatelný (uncontrollable, ungovernable, unmanageable). (various references)

Farsi 

متمرد (Disobedient, Insurgent, Intractable, Lawbreaker, Malcontent, Malignant, Outlaw, Rebel, Rebellious, Recalcitrant, Recusant, Unruly), نافرمان (Disobedient, Insubordinate, Naughty), خودسر (Headstrong, Intractable, Opinionated, Pertinacious, Stubborn, Wilful), خودرای (Absolute, Headstrong, Hidebound, Nonconformist, Obstinate, Opinionated, Peremptory). (various references)

French

rebelle, rétif, indocile, imprévisible, fâcheux. (various references)

German

eigensinnig (headstrong, obstinate, opinionated, self willed, stubborn, waywardly, willful). (various references)

Greek 

καπριτσιόζοσ, ιδιότροποσ (capricious, cranky, crotchety, faddy, fastidious, flighty, maggoty, pernickety, quirky, wanton, whimsical), δύστροποσ (bloody minded, cantankerous, captious, crabbed, cranky, cross, fretful, grouch, illtempered, morose, peevish, pettish, recalcitrant, shrewish, splenetic, splenish, sullen, surly, testy, untoward, vixenish, waspish). (various references)

Hebrew 

לסטות (deviate, diverge, go astray, pervert, robbery, stray, turn aside), קפריסי (capricious, flighty, wanton, whimsical, whimsy), הפכפך (fickle, fitful, inconstant, spineless, temperamental, turncoat, unsettled). (various references)

Hungarian

csökönyös (as stubborn as a mule, balky, bullet-headed, froward, hide-bound, indocile, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, ornery, perverse, pigheaded, restive, rusty, wrong-headed), önfejû (be obstinate, obstinate, opinionated, refractory, self willed, untoward, wilful, wrong-headed). (various references)

Italian

ribelle (insurgent, mutinous, rebel, untamable), capriccioso (capricious, fanciful, flighty, freakish, maggoty, skittish, temperamental, whimsical, wilful, willful), caparbio (balky, headstrong, pigheaded, restive, stubborn, wilful, willful). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

無軌道. (various references)

Manx

kione-daaney (bullet-headed, dogged, dour, mulish, opinionated, pertinaceous, pigheaded, recalcitrant, self-opinionated, self-willed), gyn smaght (intractable, unchecked, undisciplined), do-choyrlagh. (various references)

Pig Latin

aywardway

Portuguese

teimoso (ambivalent, balky, die hard, Dogger, hard-mouthed, headstrong, mulish, obstinate, opium, peevish, pertinacity, pigheaded, recalcitrant, refractory, self willed, stiff necked, strongwilled, stubborn, tough, tumbler, uncompromising, unmanageable, unwilling, wilful, willful, wrong-headed), irregular (atypical, bumpy, catchy, crenelated, disorderly, erratic, fitful, inequable, informal, inordinate, irregular heartbeat, jaggy, jerky, joggly, jolty, knockabout, laceration, lawless, occasionalism, ragged, rough, scratchy, snatchy, spotty, unequable, unequal, uneven), instável (ambulatory, astatic, baffling, bumpy, changeable, erratum, fickle, incandesce, inconstant, infirm, kid glove, labor, lubricous, mobile home, mutable, off balance, slippery, slippy, temperamental, ticklish, Tippy, tottering, unreliable, unsound, unstable, unsteady, variable, wonky), indócil (fractious, indoctrinate, rambunctious, restive, ungovernable, unmanageable), desobediente (disobey, naughty, recalcitrant, unruly), caprichoso (arbitrary, cantankerous, caprice, capricious, crotchety, difficult, extravagant, faddy, fanciful, fitful, freakish, Kittle, maggoty, notional, peevish, skittish, temperamental, tidy, viewy, whim, whimsical). (various references)

Romanian

nestatornic (changeable, fickle, flyaway, giddy, lubricous, mobile, mutable, ticklish, unfaithful, unreliable, unstable, variably, versatile, volatile), nestãpânit (abandoned, beyond control, boisterous, incontinent, insatiable, intemperate, irrepressible, unbroken, unrestrained), neaşteptat (abrupt, snap, sudden, undreamed of, unexpected, unforeseen, unlooked for), neînfrânat (intemperate, unbridled), cu toane (capricious, fanciful, fancy, maggoty, Moody, whimsical, whimsy), capricios (arbitrary, capricious, cranky, crotchety, difficult, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, fickle, fitful, fractious, freakish, frolic, Froward, humoursome, peevish, perverse, vagarious, wanton, whimsical, whimsy). (various references)

Russian 

капризный (arbitrary, capricious, crotchety, difficile, flighty, fractious, freakish, fretful, huffish, moody, peevish, prankish, temperamental, vagarious, whimsical), изменчивый (changeable, fast and loose, fickle, inequable, mobile, mutable, protean, streaky, vagrant, variable). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

svojevoljan (self willed, voluntary). (various references)

Spanish

voluntarioso (headstrong, self willed, wilful, willful), veleidoso (fickle, freakish, mercurial, mood, moody). (various references)

Swedish

egensinnig (obstinate, opinionated, self willed, wilful, willful). (various references)

Turkish

tutarsız (abrupt, as thin as a wafer, choppy, conflicting, contradictious, contradictory, desultory, disconnected, discursive, disjointed, double-minded, incoherent, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, precarious, rambling, unconnected, wafer-thin), ters (acrimonious, adverse, agley, Amiss, awkward, awry, backward, backwards, bad tempered, bloody minded, churlish, contradictory, contrary, converse, counter, crabbed, cranky, curt, cussed, dour, face down, fractious, fretful, Froward, frowning, grumpy, ill natured, illegitimate, indecorous, inimical, inverse, inversely, inverted, mis-, negative, off, opposing, opposite, perverse, retro-, reverse, snuffy, sub-, unfavorable, unfavourable, upside down, versed, wrong, wrongly), nazlı (coy, delicate, rose water, spoilt), kararsız (ambivalent, astatic, baffling, changeable, changeful, double-minded, doubtful, dubious, erratic, faltering, fickle, flighty, fluctuating, flukey, fluky, fluxional, halting, hazy, hesitant, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, infirm, infirm of purpose, irresolute, precarious, restless, shilly shally, uncertain, uncommitted, undecided, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, unstable, unsteady, vacillating, vagabond, vague, weak-kneed), kaprisli (capricious, fanciful, fey, freakish, humoursome, notional, whimsey, whimsical, whimsy), dik başlı (contrary, deaf, Froward, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, obstinate, pig-headed, stubborn), şımarık (perky, pert, sassy, saucy, spoilt), asi (beat, contumacious, disobedient, insubordinate, insurgent, insurrectional, insurrectionary, insurrectionist, mugwump, mutineer, mutinous, rebel, rebellious, rioter, seditious, ungovernable, unruly, unsubmissive). (various references)

Ukranian 

свавільний (arbitrary, cobby, hard-mouthed, headstrong, high handed, notionate, opinionated, opinioned, ramstam, self willed, wilful, willful), норовливий (balky, restive, skittish, willyard), мінливий (capricious, changeable, changeful, chatoyant, chequered, choppy, floating, inconsistent, interchangeable, mutable, non-permanent, skittish, stayless, uncertain, vagrant, variable, varied, wanton, wavy), заблудлий (lost, stray, strayed, wandered, wildered, will). (various references)

Vietnamese 

ương ngạnh (hard-handed, headstrong, pertaincious, stiff-necked, tough, unadvisable, unamenable, wrong-headed). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "wayward": waywardly, waywardness, waywardnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Wayward" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: rayward, sayward, Wamwere, wayword. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: award.

-3 letters: away, awry, draw, dray, raya, wady, ward, wary, yard.

-4 letters: awa, daw, day, dry, rad, raw, ray, rya, wad, war, waw, way, wry, yar, yaw.

-5 letters: aa, ad, ar, aw, ay, ya.

+2 letters: awkwardly, waywardly.

+4 letters: waywardness.

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