The Collaborative Dictionary

Wayward \Way"ward\, a. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.] Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [1913 Webster] My wife is in a wayward mood. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Wayward beauty doth not fancy move. --Fairfax. [1913 Webster] Wilt thou forgive the wayward thought? --Keble. [1913 Webster] -- Way"ward*ly, adv. -- Way"ward*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

wayward adj : resistant to guidance or discipline; "Mary Mary quite contrary"; "an obstinate child with a violent temper"; "a perverse mood"; "wayward behavior" [syn: contrary, obstinate, perverse]

Moby Thesaurus

Adamic, Paphian, adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, arbitrary, backsliding, balky, cantankerous, capricious, carnal, chambering, changeable, changeful, contrary, cranky, cross-grained, crotchety, desultory, deviable, difficult, disobedient, dizzy, easy, eccentric, erratic, erring, fallen, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, flaky, fleshly, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, frail, freakish, froward, giddy, harebrained, humorsome, impetuous, impulsive, impure, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, indisciplined, infirm, irascible, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, kinky, lapsed, lawless, lax, light, loose, loose-moraled, maggoty, mazy, mercurial, moody, motiveless, naughty, nonconforming, notional, obstinate, of easy virtue, of loose morals, ornery, peccable, perverse, petulant, postlapsarian, prodigal, promiscuous, quirky, rambling, recidivist, recidivistic, recusant, restive, restless, roving, scatterbrained, self-willed, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, slack, spasmodic, spineless, stuffy, sulky, sullen, temperamental, transgressive, unaccountable, unangelic, uncertain, unchaste, unclean, uncomplying, uncontrolled, undependable, undisciplined, unduteous, undutiful, unfixed, ungodly, ungood, unpredictable, unreasonable, unreliable, unrestrained, unrighteous, unsaintly, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unvirtuous, vacillating, vagarious, vagrant, variable, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, violative, virtueless, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, weak, whimsical, whorish, willful, wishy-washy, wrongheaded

English

Pronunciation

• /ˈweɪwɚd/
• /"weIw@`d/

Adjective

1. given to wilful, perverse deviation from the expected norm; tending to stray
2. obstinate, contrary and unpredictable

Translations