meander
verb (used without object)
to proceed by or take a winding or indirect course.
meander
1 American
[mee-an-der]
/ miˈæn dər /
verb (used without object)
-
meanders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
meandered,
past participle, past
-
meandering
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
meanders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
meandered,
past participle, past
-
meandering
present participle
noun
-
meanders
plural
-
Usually meanders. turnings or windings; a winding path or course.
-
a circuitous movement or journey.
-
an intricate variety of fret or fretwork.
Meander
2
American
[mee-an-der]
/ miˈæn dər /
noun
meander
1
British
/ mɪˈændə /
verb
-
to follow a winding course
-
to wander without definite aim or direction
noun
-
(often plural) a curve or bend, as in a river
-
(often plural) a winding course or movement
-
an ornamental pattern, esp as used in ancient Greek architecture
Meander
2
British
/ miːˈændə /
noun
meander
Scientific
/ mē-ăn′dər /
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
meandersimple
-
meanderssimple
-
have meanderedperfect
-
has meanderedperfect
-
am meanderingprogressive
-
are meanderingprogressive
-
is meanderingprogressive
-
have been meanderingperfect progressive
-
has been meanderingperfect progressive
Past
-
meanderedsimple
-
had meanderedperfect
-
was meanderingprogressive
-
were meanderingprogressive
-
had been meanderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of meander
1570–80; < Latin maeander < Greek maíandros a winding, special use of Maíandros, the Menderes River, noted for its winding course
Explanation
To meander means to wander aimlessly on a winding roundabout course. If you want some time to yourself after school, you might meander home, taking the time to window shop and look around. Meander comes from a river in modern-day Turkey, the Maiandros, which winds and wanders on its course. Today, a stream or a path meanders, as does a person who walks somewhere in a roundabout fashion. If your speech meanders, you don't keep to the point. It's hard to understand what your teacher is trying to impart if he keeps meandering off with anecdotes and digressions. Pronounce meander with three syllables not two — me-AN-der.
Vocabulary lists containing meander
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 10, List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
"Especially species that rely on more natural gravels and variation within the channel - that's the benefit of the meander."
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
This team isn’t built to meander through the opening weeks of the season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
So every weekend, Disler and her girlfriend have an “adventure day” where they meander around a different neighborhood.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2025
The novels meander discursively through time, so it does not matter where one begins.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025
For a few minutes I meander through the crowd, eventually making my way to the dance stages, where I’ve spotted Laia and Izzi.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
That reminds me of Jane Alison's "Meander, Spiral, Explode," where she shows how the traditional pyramid structure plot is not the only way to tell a story.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2023
Also, Stefanski said cornerback Greedy Williams is day to day with a groin injury and that linebacker Montrel Meander will need surgery after rupturing an Achilles tendon in Sunday’s 17-13 win.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 23, 2021
LB Montrel Meander was carted off in the third quarter with an ankle injury.
From Fox News ● Aug. 22, 2021
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that in 2014, Common Cause organized the Gerrymander Meander relay race along the 3rd District’s outline.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 8, 2019
There was neither name nor address on the telegram, but it was easy to see that it was for “Jerry” at Meander.
From Claim Number One by George W. (George Washington) Ogden
“Land” regains traction when it returns to Ireland and to its mythic theme, which meanders from the Neolithic era to the 20th century, with detours to more fantastical regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
But it also meanders quite a lot, and is somewhere between a self-help book and a stream of anecdotes.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2025
At one point, Dan Fogelman, who created “This Is Us” and is an executive producer on the series, meanders over during a break from filming his upcoming Hulu drama, “Paradise City,” to observe the scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2024
The stages of grief are all endlessly explored, and it loses us as it meanders through some of the low parts of "The Tortured Poets Department."
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2024
But those walks were disciplined; they were not meanders of discovery like Vincent’s on the heath.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
The jet stream has meandered well to the north of the UK, allowing high pressure to build and warm air to drift in from south.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Carolers meandered through town, drawing no more than a dozen onlookers as they sang “Angels We Have Heard on High” and asked shop owners whether holiday crowds might return.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
“But we’d meandered away from the band in so many different ways that maybe it would have been another three, four, five years.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2025
The England duo smartly meandered along, taking 106 runs in the session compared to the rampant flow of runs earlier.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Obviously a mixture of symbolic and character-based language, the text meandered around the page in no apparent order.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
“A resort-style pool, tranquil lily ponds, meandering pathways, shaded terraces, and a full-size tennis court create moments of both recreation and quiet reflection, where the sounds of nature replace the pace of everyday life.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
After a campaign over hundreds of years saw rivers tamed for commercial use, he urged a shift back "toward natural rivers featuring meandering branches and floodplains that retain water across the landscape".
From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026
Condos, like other properties, shot up in value earlier in the pandemic but have been moving sideways in L.A. for the last two years, with the median price meandering around $700,000 for a two-bedroom condominium.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
His lines are lazy, woozy, all-forgiving reportage about the seasons’ slow parade, the meandering ongoingness of our world: arrival, decay and the modest glory in between.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Once he came down to the library while Francis and I were playing cards, but he refused our invitation to join in and poked listlessly through the shelves, finally meandering upstairs without choosing a book.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
