go astray

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]

Example Sentences

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

From Los Angeles Times

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

From BBC

It’s just that I go astray here and there.”

From New York Times

However, it’s only too soon that things go astray from the kind of filmmaking that made “Black Dynamite” such a contemporary cult classic.

From Los Angeles Times

“I didn’t want my family to go astray and be no good to the world.”

From New York Times

Related Words

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