in the wild

in the wild

1. (usually of animals) Living and roaming freely in nature; not domesticated.
   • 2008, G. Tyler Miller, Scott Spoolman, Sustaining the Earth: an integrated approach, page 107:

     But during its lifetime, a single macaw left in the wild might yield more than 16 times as much in tourist income.

2. (figuratively) At large.
   • 2006, Wally Wang, Steal this computer book 4.0: what they won't tell you about the Internet:

     A new, deadly type of virus has been detected in the wild.

   • 2020 October 25, Marco Chiappetta, “Update Google Chrome And Chrome OS Now To Fix This Newly Discovered Exploit”, in Forbes:

     Many of the exploits discovered by cyber security researchers are often found and patched before the public is even made aware of the problem or actual exploits are found out in the wild.

3. (figuratively) In written or spoken language use, especially by native speakers.

   This word is very rare; it may be difficult to find usages of it in the wild.

4. (figuratively) By coincidence in the course of everyday life.

   I'd seen this stock photo in memes a hundred times, but yesterday I saw it in the wild, illustrating a magazine article.

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