amble
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
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an ambling gait.
-
a slow, easy walk or gentle pace.
-
a stroll.
verb
-
to walk at a leisurely relaxed pace
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(of a horse) to move slowly, lifting both legs on one side together
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to ride a horse at an amble or leisurely pace
noun
-
a leisurely motion in walking
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a leisurely walk
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the ambling gait of a horse
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amblesimple
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amblessimple
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have ambledperfect
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has ambledperfect
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am amblingprogressive
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are amblingprogressive
-
is amblingprogressive
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have been amblingperfect progressive
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has been amblingperfect progressive
Past
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ambledsimple
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had ambledperfect
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was amblingprogressive
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were amblingprogressive
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had been amblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of amble
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French ambler < Latin ambulāre to walk, equivalent to amb- ambi- + -ulāre to step ( *-el- + stem vowel -ā-; cognate with Welsh el- may go, Greek elaúnein to set in motion)
Explanation
To amble is to take a leisurely, pleasurable walk. Care to amble down a pleasant country road instead of reading the rest of this word description? That would certainly be understandable. Amble is both a noun meaning "a stroll" and a verb meaning "to walk in a slow, leisurely way." You might amble (or take an amble) over to the snack table and grab a brownie. Amble comes from the Latin ambulare, which means "to walk about," as in ambulatory. Weirdly enough, it was once only used for horses or those on horseback. We use it for people now, but it still retains some of its horse-like, country feel.
Vocabulary lists containing amble
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Walk the Walk: Amb
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Hot to Trot: Animal Ambulation
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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:
Their split-second choice to amble over to the former consolidated the prediction that Mexico will emerge as the winner of the highly anticipated match on June 11.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
I had ambitious plans to amble past more spots in West Hollywood.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Civilian gawkers amble up the road, snapping photos with the accumulating floral tributes.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
Visitors to the Holly museum would amble over those specs as they arrived and departed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
From Georgia to Maine, it wanders across fourteen states, through plump, comely hills whose very names—Blue Ridge, Smokies, Cumberlands, Green Mountains, White Mountains—seem an invitation to amble.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara is chatting away in traditional Wassoulou clothes, while Johnny Marr ambles past in an equally traditional Mancunian parka.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
And when Mitch leaves the building and ambles out into the New York City streets, it looks as though their number won’t happen.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2026
In automatic mode, the car ambles down the boulevard, murmuring, simmering and keeping its immensity hidden from polite society.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
Illustrated with mouthwatering photos, most of them by local food photographer Charity Burggraaf, the book ambles season-by-season through the fields, forests, farmers markets and seashores of the Pacific Northwest, highlighting ingredients that inspire Wahlke.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 22, 2023
Finch is in front, and I pay more attention to the shine of his hair and the way he ambles, loose-jointed and fluid, than I do to the scenery.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
Matt James, the leading man on Season 25 of “The Bachelor,” ambled around with his mother in a T-shirt that read, “Raw Milk Club.”
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
As I ambled past groups doing yoga and vacationing families lounging on the grass, pain started to radiate through my ankles and up my shinbones before settling uncomfortably in my hips.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
During our conversation via video after a New York show, I’d ask one question, then follow Nihill as he ambled through his personal history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
On a recent morning, Mike, a charismatic, middle-aged chimp, ambled along the savannah floor, baobab fruit dangling by a stem from his mouth -- a snack for later -- as Sadiakhou watched.
From Barron's ● Jan. 15, 2026
Mission accomplished, he turned and ambled farther into the park.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
But The Guardian described it, external as a "slow and ambling show" that "moved with all the urgency of the recently tranquillised".
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
Over and over again, I heard the exact same refrain from the visitors ambling around the Strip.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2025
All over Europe this week, soccer players from the biggest clubs in the game began ambling back to work ahead of the new season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2025
After finally getting out of the car, he went inside a school building for a few minutes before ambling across the street to the historic church.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2024
Nick swung out from behind the counter, ambling across the store to his ammo shelves.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
