itinerant
[ahy-tin-er-uh nt, ih-tin-]
- traveling from place to place, especially on a circuit, as a minister, judge, or sales representative; itinerating; journeying.
- characterized by such traveling: itinerant preaching.
- working in one place for a comparatively short time and then moving on to work in another place, usually as a physical or outdoor laborer; characterized by alternating periods of working and wandering: an itinerant farm hand.
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- a person who alternates between working and wandering.
- a person who travels from place to place, especially for duty or business.
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Origin of itinerant
Synonyms
See more synonyms for itinerant on Thesaurus.com1, 3. wandering, nomadic, migratory, unsettled, roving, roaming; peripatetic.
Antonyms
1. settled.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for itinerant
Contemporary Examples
Unlike Brunner, Remer was itinerant, and spent much time in that other nest of postwar Nazis—Cairo.
In the meantime, he continued his itinerant existence, sometimes living for months in his Airstream trailer with no phone.
This 13th-century fresco of a lion was painted near Burgos in Spain, probably by an itinerant English artist from Winchester.
From there, Leo lived an itinerant childhood, eventually winding up in England.
It's a memoir of growing up as the son of an itinerant Arabist foreign service officer.
Historical Examples
For miles we only meet two road-menders and an itinerant glazier.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
After a few years he quitted his cellar, and became an itinerant dealer in hair.
Self-HelpSamuel Smiles
Therefore let no man be an itinerant mendicant and he will not be beset with pain.
The DhammapadaUnknown
How mysterious was the providence which induced me to enter the itinerant ministry.
The Story of My LifeEgerton Ryerson
Some of these itinerant writing craftsmen had professional fame.
In Our TownWilliam Allen White
itinerant
- itinerating
- working for a short time in various places, esp as a casual labourer
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- an itinerant worker or other person
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Word Origin
C16: from Late Latin itinerārī to travel, from iter a journey
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for itinerant
adj.
1560s (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Late Latin itinerantem (nominative itinerans), present participle of itinerare "to travel," from Latin iter (genitive itineris) "journey," from ire "go" (see ion). Originally in reference to circuit courts.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper