adjective
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archaic wandering in search of adventure
-
erring or straying from the right course or accepted standards
Other Word Forms
- errantly adverb
- nonerrant adjective
- nonerrantly adverb
- unerrant adjective
- unerrantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of errant
1300–50; Middle English erraunt < Middle French, Old French errant, present participle of errer, edrer to travel < Vulgar Latin *iterāre to journey, for Late Latin itinerārī, derivative of iter, stem itiner- journey ( itinerary ); confused with Middle French errant, present participle of errer to err
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.
And if AI agents are not kept on course by a human, they could misunderstand an instruction and wander down an errant processing path, resulting in a business paying for wasted computing power.
From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026
Up ahead, Schauffele set the clubhouse target at 11 under, while MacIntyre was left to rue an errant shot on the 16th.
From BBC • Mar. 15, 2026
Or a sturdy stew: a can of tomatoes, an errant link of sausage, a handful of chickpeas, all brightened with greens that need a home.
From Salon • Dec. 28, 2025
This is a comic epic of bursting balloons and black eyes, tipsy aunts and tottering uncles, an errant mouse and driving snows.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
Flameproof goblins may be, but the errant fireball had given his tubes a good scouring.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
