adrift
Americanadjective
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floating without control; drifting; not anchored or moored.
The survivors were adrift in the rowboat for three days.
-
lacking aim, direction, or stability.
adjective
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floating without steering or mooring; drifting
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without purpose; aimless
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informal off course or amiss
the project went adrift
Etymology
Origin of adrift
Explanation
If something's adrift, it's floating, not tied down or anchored. A raft that's adrift on a river will float downstream. If a ship goes adrift, it meanders off course, simply traveling with the water rather than on a charted course. Likewise, if you feel your life has gone figuratively adrift, you may have lost track of your plans and feel like you're wandering without a purpose. The word adrift comes from the sense of drift that means "a slow movement from one place to another," from an Old Norse root word.
Vocabulary lists containing adrift
Illegal
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Charlotte's Web
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The Young Man and the Sea
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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.
Some of the medical and scientific skepticism is a result of people feeling adrift in a rapidly changing world and drowning in competing information.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
That feeling of being adrift without knowing where to turn is what the filmmakers built the movie around.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
She spent two days and a night adrift in the Andaman Sea off Bangladesh after the overcrowded vessel carrying about 280 people sank following four days of travel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Compatriots Miyu Yamashita and Mao Saigo finished three shots further adrift at 15 under alongside South Korea's Jin-Hee Im.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Together, the three of them lifted the boat, carried it to the water, and set it adrift.
From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder
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.
