go astray

Idioms  

1. Wander off the right path or subject; also, wander into evil or error. For example, It was hard to follow the lecturer's gist, since he kept going astray, or The gang members led him astray, and he ended up in court. This expression alludes to sheep or other animals that stray from the rest of the flock. Indeed, Handel's oratorio Messiah (1741) has this chorus: “All we like sheep have gone astray, Every one to his own way.” [c. 1300]

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Example Sentences

If the digging phase is where ideas are found, it is also where many people go astray.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

There’s no space to go astray; their energy is concentrated.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2024

Some good news about China's relations with the other world superpower would not go astray.

From BBC • Nov. 15, 2023

But the worst days, he said, are when a band of sheep go astray or come under attack.

From New York Times • Sep. 23, 2022

And when we try to draw conclusions from the facts we often go astray because we have misunderstood their significance.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• deviate
• drift
• err
• meander
• roam
• swerve