wildly

Everyday

1. Wildly means in a wild, uncontrolled way, with lots of excited or fierce movement. tree →
2. Wildly means very much or extremely: «wildly popular», «wildly wrong». tree →
3. A wildly growing plant grows freely, without anyone looking after it. tree →

In the lessons

In stories it shows strong feeling or chaos: a crowd cheering wildly, a heart beating wildly, a dog barking wildly. In maths and science it describes a guess or number far from the truth: «a wildly wrong estimate», «temperatures changed wildly». Phrases: «cheer wildly», «wave wildly», «wildly different», «wildly popular».

Examples

• The crowd cheered wildly when we scored. tree →
• My heart was beating wildly before the race. tree →
• He waved his arms wildly to get our attention. tree →
• The dog barked wildly at the postman. tree →
• Her guess of 5,000 was wildly wrong. tree →
• The weather changed wildly from sunny to stormy. tree →
• Flowers grew wildly along the old railway. tree →
• The new game is wildly popular at our school. tree →
• And the horse galloped on more wildly than before. tree →

Note

An adverb from «wild». Trap: «wildly» before an adjective usually means «extremely», not «in a wild way»: «wildly expensive» = very expensive. In maths, a wildly wrong answer is a sign to check the estimate and the working.