wilderness

«wilderness» in Mova's school dictionary: a wild area of land that people have not changed, with no… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a wilderness, wildernesses; the wilderness)

meaning for a pupil

1) A wilderness is a wild area of land that people have not changed, with no towns, farms or roads. tree →

2) (Bible) The wilderness is the desert where, the Bible says, the Israelites wandered for forty years and Jesus fasted for forty days. tree →

3) In the wilderness (idiom): left out, without power or importance for a time. tree →

sense in the lessons

In geography and science lessons wildernesses include forests, mountains and deserts where animals live freely; national parks protect them. In religious education, Lent remembers Jesus' forty days in the wilderness. In stories, characters get lost in the wilderness and must survive. Phrases: «in the wilderness», «wilderness area», «a voice crying in the wilderness».

examples

• Bears live deep in the Canadian wilderness. tree →
• The explorers crossed the frozen wilderness. tree →
• Moses led the people through the wilderness. tree →
• Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness. tree →
• Our garden became a wilderness when nobody weeded it. tree →
• The team spent years in the wilderness before winning again. tree →
• A wilderness guide taught us to read a compass. tree →
• The way gradually grew thicker of brushwood, as they rode along, till at last it became a trackless wilderness. tree →

note

Countable (plural «wildernesses»), often «the wilderness». Pronunciation: WIL-der-ness (short «i», unlike «wild»). Related: wild.

In the corpora

• The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land, and they often grumbled.
• and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
• And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
• And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
• And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «wilderness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.