roam
Americanverb (used without object)
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roams,
present (3rd person singular)
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roamed,
past participle, past
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roaming
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
roams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
roamed,
past participle, past
-
roaming
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
Roam, ramble, range, rove imply wandering about over (usually) a considerable amount of territory. Roam implies a wandering or traveling over a large area, especially as prompted by restlessness or curiosity: to roam through a forest. Ramble implies pleasant, carefree moving about, walking with no specific purpose and for a limited distance: to ramble through fields near home. Range usually implies wandering over a more or less defined but extensive area in search of something: Cattle range over the plains. Rove sometimes implies wandering with specific incentive or aim, as an animal for prey: Bandits rove through these mountains.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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roamsimple
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roamssimple
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have roamedperfect
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has roamedperfect
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am roamingprogressive
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are roamingprogressive
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is roamingprogressive
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have been roamingperfect progressive
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has been roamingperfect progressive
Past
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roamedsimple
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had roamedperfect
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was roamingprogressive
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were roamingprogressive
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had been roamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of roam
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English romen origin uncertain
Explanation
When you wander without a plan or a specific destination, you roam. Your cat may stay close to your house when you let her outside, or she may roam around the neighborhood all day. Dogs and kids on bikes tend to roam in packs, looking for food or fun, while a tiger in the zoo roams aimlessly around his enclosure. Book characters' eyes sometimes roam, too, or glance over a scene without stopping: "Her eyes roam across the group, but there are no familiar faces." Experts have tried connecting roam to "pilgrimages to Rome," but there seems to be no relation between roam and Rome.
Vocabulary lists containing roam
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They roam a mine production area that stretches as far as the eye can see—an area of 3,500 soccer fields—with a computer algorithm telling them where to go next to pick up coal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Finally, in 1997, the more primitive, mini-tanklike Sojourner Rover was the first wheeled robotic vehicle to roam Mars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
For students at UC Riverside, the start of fall semester means picking up their class syllabus, catching up with friends and snapping selfies with the adorable wild donkeys that roam around the school.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The pictures in this uneven but often striking show at the Yale Center for British Art roam from the 19th-century English countryside to British India to modern London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
That year our parents decided that we were old enough to roam the neighborhood unattended.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Barbastelle roams ancient forests but its elusive nature has made it challenging to track.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Until then, Promise's goat will continue enjoying special status at the student halls where he roams freely and even has some human-like habits.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“He’s been my muse on this street for a while. … He just roams around the store, chills, does his little nap thing, and hangs out with everybody, so he’s very social.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
He posted a list on X of what he called “press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free Press must wear visible badge Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
Then Medon, the perceptive man, replied: “A god moved him—who knows?—or his own heart sent him to learn, at Pylos, if his father roams the wide world still, or what befell him.”
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Self-appointed witch-hunters such as the infamous Matthew Hopkins, who called himself a Witchfinder General, roamed the countryside in search of victims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
About the size of a large tiger and armed with enormous curved claws, the animal roamed what is now Britain approximately 120 million years ago.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
When Amy Potter was growing up, she roamed free in rural Australia and jumped off a shed onto her trampoline until it had a hole in it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
Researchers have found a trove of dinosaur fossils across the region, which holds the country's richest deposits, offering insight into the creatures that roamed the planet millions of years ago.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Roz roamed across the island and checked in with the beavers and the bears and all the friends she’d missed.
From "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown
Now, he imagines days in the not-too-distant future where 5-year-olds learn by roaming these hills, not just listening to stories.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
He might simply have alerted the local authorities to a feral, barefoot witch roaming his property.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Her mother is from County Down and Edgar-Jones spent her childhood roaming fields in Northern Ireland.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
To go somewhere and have your entire family dressed in Spider-Man regalia, roaming the streets of San Diego.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
We whooped and ran off, past the plump, squawking chickens roaming the yard, away from the house, and down the soft slope of farmland that ran along the woods.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
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