The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wilderness \Wil"der*ness\, n. [OE. wildernesse,
   wilderne,probably from AS. wildor a wild beast; cf. D.
   wildernis wilderness. See Wilder, v. t.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A tract of land, or a region, uncultivated and uninhabited
      by human beings, whether a forest or a wide, barren plain;
      a wild; a waste; a desert; a pathless waste of any kind.
      [1913 Webster]

            The wat'ry wilderness yields no supply. --Waller.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A disorderly or neglected place. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Quality or state of being wild; wildness. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            These paths and bowers doubt not but our joint
            hands.
            Will keep from wilderness with ease.  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

wilderness
    n 1: (politics) a state of disfavor; "he led the Democratic
         party back from the wilderness"
    2: a wooded region in northeastern Virginia near Spotsylvania
       where bloody but inconclusive battles were fought in the
       American Civil War
    3: a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition;
       "it was a wilderness preserved for the hawks and
       mountaineers" [syn: wilderness, wild]
    4: a bewildering profusion; "the duties of citizenship are lost
       sight of in the wilderness of interests of individuals and
       groups"; "a wilderness of masts in the harbor"