Wont Meaning
/wʌnt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounOne's habitual way of doing things; custom, habit, practice.
adjAccustomed or used (to or with a thing), accustomed or apt (to do something).
Sentence Examples
We were wont to meet at that pleasant spot.
It was my father's wont to read the newspaper before breakfast.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
As was his ____, he woke up at dawn every day without fail.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As was his ____, he started his day with a long walk in the park and a cold coffee today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English wont, from Old English ġewunod, past participle of ġewunian (“to be accustomed to, dwell”), the noun sense possibly arising via conflation of wone (“custom, habit, practice”) and the adjective wont. Compare German Low German Gewohnte (“custom, habit”), Dutch gewoonte, Swedish van. Likely related to wone, wonder, wean, and win.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[T]hey [Spartan youth] are by a ſudden alarum or watch-word, to be called out to their military motions, under ſky or covert, according to the ſeaſon, as was the Roman wont; […]"
— 1644, John Milton, Of Education, To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: Printed for Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC; republished in The Works of John Milton, Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous. Now More Correctly Printed from the Originals, than in any Former Edition, and Many Passages Restored, which have been hitherto Omitted. To which is Prefixed, an Account of His Life and Writings [by Thomas Birch]. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, in the Strand, 1753, →OCLC, page 147:
"[…]when Sindbad the Seaman had related the history of what befel him in his sixth voyage, and all the company had dispersed, Sindbad the Landsman went home and slept as of wont."
— 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 563:
"Such conditions, having been the common practice for years, and, existing in a less degree in some localities to the present time, afford a tangible reason for a form of correlation that is more universal than it is the wont of the profession to admit; namely, that with the laity, dentistry and "the pulling of teeth," and the dentist and "the tooth puller," are very closely related subjects […]"
— 1915, The Practical Dental Journal, volume 15, San Antonio, Tx.: Ferguson Dental Supply Co., →OCLC, page 100:
"As was also the wont of international conferences, a delegate from Pennsylvania, in this instance James Wilson, proposed the appointment of a secretary and nominated William Temple Franklin, whose selection would have been agreeable to the authorities of Pennsylvania, inasmuch as he was the grandson of its venerable chief executive."
— 1920, James Brown Scott, “The Federal Convention: An International Conference”, in The United States of America: A Study in International Organization (Publications of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of International Law), New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 149:
"This is the ſuteltie of Satan, who vnder the shew of godly matters, deceaueth the vnaduyſed, as we are wont to ſay, that in the honye lyeth hidden the poiſon."
— 1556, Anthoni de Adamo [Agostino Mainardi], “The Examinacion of the Kyrie Eleeson and of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, and how that Many Praiers after the Gloria in Excelsis, be Wicked, and that the Epistle and Gospell, and Generally the Whole Worde of God in the Masse, are Vnworthely and Euell Fauoredly Handled”, in An Anatomi, that is to Say a Parting in Peeces of the Mass. Which Discouereth the Horrible Errors, and the Infinit Abuses Vnknowen to the People, aswel of the Mass as of the Mass Book, very Profitable, yea Most Necessary for al Christian People. With a Sermon of the Sacrament of Thankesgyuyng in the End, whiche Declareth whether Christ be Bodyly in the Sacrament or Not, [Strasbourg]: [Printed by the heirs of W. Köpfel], →OCLC, page 19:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
As was his ____, he woke up at dawn every day without fail.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
As was his ____, he started his day with a long walk in the park and a cold coffee today.