roving

¹ American  

[roh-ving] / ˈroʊ vɪŋ /

adjective

1. roaming or wandering.

2. not assigned or restricted to any particular location, area, topic, etc..

   a roving editor.

3. not assigned to any particular diplomatic post but having a special mission.

   a roving ambassador.

---

roving ² American  

[roh-ving] / ˈroʊ vɪŋ /

noun

1. a soft strand of fiber that has been twisted, attenuated, and freed of foreign matter preparatory to its conversion into yarn.

2. the final phase of carding, in which this is done.

---

Other Word Forms

• rovingly
  adverb
• rovingness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of roving¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; rove ¹ + -ing ²

Origin of roving²

First recorded in 1785–95; rove ³ + -ing ¹

Explanation

Roving things or people are in motion, like a roving reporter who travels to cover stories instead of staying put at her desk. Some roving animals are migrating, moving from one point on the globe to another. Roving travelers might be folks who live out of their camper as they wander across the country. And your job might be described as roving, too: "I work as a roving news photographer." Roving comes from the verb rove, "wander," which earlier meant "shoot arrows at a mark selected at random."

Example Sentences

Roving among the points of view of a sprawling cast—the sisters, their scattered children and grandchildren, and an assortment of bewildered spouses and exes—the stories often center on obligatory reunions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

A few years ago, a prototype of a Lunar Roving Vehicle was spotted by a tipster in a residential neighborhood in Alabama.

From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2022

Roving bands of people struck stores in Manhattan and the Bronx, even though many stores were boarded up pre-emptively as merchants feared more destruction.

From The Guardian • Jun. 2, 2020

Roving around the floor, it made a noise like a chain saw.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 7, 2017

I can’t make cans of corn out of thin They passed through Harken Square, around the Gathering Hall, and down Roving Street, where three of the floodlights were out, making a cave of shadow.

From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau

Related Words

• itinerant
• peripatetic
• wandering