aimless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- aimlessly adverb
- aimlessness noun
Etymology
Origin of aimless
Explanation
If you're aimless, you don't have a destination or a goal in mind. Aimless wandering through a forest might take you in circles, or worse yet, get you lost. The adjective aimless is good for describing things that have no particular purpose or plan. You might prefer traveling with a map or GPS, while your best friend likes to drive in an aimless way, turning down dirt roads or exiting the highway impulsively. When you call a person aimless, you probably mean that he doesn't appear to have any ambition: "My brother's an aimless drifter." Aimless comes from aim, "purpose" or "target."
Vocabulary lists containing aimless
Achievement First 6th Grade IA 1 Words
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"La Vida Robot" and "Reading, Writing and... Recreation"
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Bill Withers (1938–2020) Tribute List
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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.
It would take roughly 12 hours to watch the show from start to finish, but Stoschek and Kittelmann recommend an hour or two of aimless wandering.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026
And that in turn prevents you from aimless or unthinking financial behavior.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 24, 2025
"God help us! She is spineless, shameless and completely aimless," Badenoch told MPs.
From BBC • Nov. 28, 2025
Beckett’s works defy easy exegesis, but as in many of his other plays, “Endgame” presents us with stylized images of the aimless burdens of existence, the isolation that can be little eased by companionship.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
Since the movie houses were now off -limits due to lack of funds, he would have had to drift, bored and aimless, around the business district until it seemed safe to return home.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
