different between profusion vs wantonness

English

Etymology

From Middle French profusion, from Late Latin profusio

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /p?o??fju??n/, /p???fju??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p??(?)?fju???n/
• Rhymes: -u???n
• Hyphenation: pro?fu?sion

Noun

profusion (countable and uncountable, plural profusions)

1. abundance; the state of being profuse; a cornucopia

   His hair, in great profusion, streamed down over his shoulders.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI

     We set the men at work felling trees, selecting for the purpose jarrah, a hard, weather-resisting timber which grew in profusion near by.
2. lavish or imprudent expenditure; prodigality or extravagance

Translations

French

Noun

profusion f (plural profusions)

1. profusion

Derived terms

Further reading

• “profusion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Middle English wantonnesse, wantonesse, wantounesse, wantownesse, equivalent to wanton +? -ness.

Noun

wantonness (usually uncountable, plural wantonnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being wanton; recklessness, especially as represented in lascivious or other excessive behavior.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act IV scene ii^[1]:

     The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste, attempt us again.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 16:

     The sweetness was turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty, and the purity to voluptuous wantonness.

2. (countable, dated) A particular wanton act.
   • 1882, John Gorham Palfrey, History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty, Little Brown (Boston), v. 3, p. 366:

     These were simply the wantonnesses of a dishonest man.