Meaning

noun (politics) a state of disfavor

noun a wooded region in northeastern Virginia near Spotsylvania where bloody but inconclusive battles were fought in the American Civil War

noun a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition

originFrom Middle English wildernes, wildernesse (“desolate or uninhabited place, desolation”) [and other forms], and then either: * from Middle English wilderne (“deserted or uninhabited place, wilderness; land not yet settled”) [and other forms] (from Old English wilddeōren (“savage, wild”); see below) + -nes, -nesse (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states); or * from Old English…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0