meandering

American  

[mee-an-der-ing] / miˈæn dər ɪŋ /

adjective

1. taking a winding or indirect course.

   The city of Budapest is divided into two parts by the meandering Danube River, spanned by several stunning bridges.

2. wandering aimlessly; proceeding seemingly without direction; rambling.

   I'm unsure how I will condense a meandering narrative of my experiences into a thirty-second elevator pitch.

   Things proceed in a meandering way between them, until suddenly their relationship comes to a devastatingly emotional climax.

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noun

1. the act of wandering or proceeding aimlessly or by a winding or indirect course.

   I digress—but I blame it on the mental meandering of age.

   After a coffee and some meandering among the displays on the hotel mezzanine, I left the convention.

Other Word Forms

• meanderingly
  adverb
• unmeandering
  adjective
• unmeanderingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of meandering

First recorded in 1610–20; meander ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; meander ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun sense

Example Sentences

It also shows that evolution rarely follows a straight path, instead meandering through the ever-changing conditions on our planet.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

Demographics for Unusual Tuesday range from late teens to septuagenarians, mingling and meandering as they await the start of the show.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

His lines are lazy, woozy, all-forgiving reportage about the seasons’ slow parade, the meandering ongoingness of our world: arrival, decay and the modest glory in between.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

Whether Tuesday’s rebound marks the entrance to that path, or another meandering trail of foggy wartime reactions, remains to be seen.

From Barron's • Mar. 31, 2026

Grandma warns me to take the dinner can directly and not be meandering, looking this way and that, kicking canisters and ruining the toes of my shoes.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt