nomad

American  

[noh-mad] / ˈnoʊ mæd /

noun

nomads plural

1. a member of a people or tribe that has no permanent abode but moves about from place to place, usually seasonally and often following a traditional route or circuit according to the state of the pasturage or food supply.

2. any wanderer; itinerant.

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adjective

1. nomadic.

nomad British  

/ ˈnəʊmæd /

noun

1. a member of a people or tribe who move from place to place to find pasture and food

2. a person who continually moves from place to place; wanderer

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nomadism
  noun
• nonnomad
  noun
• seminomad
  noun
• seminomadism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nomads
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nomad

First recorded in 1580–90; from Latin nomad-, from Greek, stem of nomás “roaming about for pasture,” akin to némein “to pasture, graze”

Explanation

A nomad is someone with no permanent home, like the member of a tribe that moves from place to place in search of food, or the rock star who spends 365 days a year in tour buses and hotel rooms. The word nomad has traditionally meant a member of a tribe of people who roamed from place to place in search of animals and shelter. Nomadic tribes wandered out of necessity. Wherever the food went, they went. In its more modern sense, a nomad is someone who would rather wander from place to place than set down roots, like the nomad who crashes at his friends' apartments in various cities instead of renting his own place.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nomad nomads

"Being a digital nomad is not defined by nationality. Our community includes members from many countries, including Indonesia."

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

He arrived in Chicago this season as the ultimate nomad, an anonymous journeyman joining his fourth MLB organization in the span of a little more than three years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Once the nomad larvae hatch, they kill the host bee larvae and consume the stored pollen and nectar intended for the mining bees.

From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026

The idea of being a digital nomad with no oversight is romantic, but when your income is project-based or hourly billed, you start feeling like every waking moment you aren’t working is costing you money.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026

With no money and no time to settle, we moved to a different ramshackle rental cottage or boardinghouse every season until I was so pregnant with Rachel that our nomad state seemed disreputable.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

The Afar region of north-eastern Ethiopia is one of the hottest and driest places on Earth, where nomads often lead camel caravans carrying salt through the desert.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

If there was any thought that this was a fleeting pandemic-era experiment of laptop nomads logging in from distant shores, data hints at its longevity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026

Multiple battles with Claudius’ henchmen pepper Scarlet and Hijiri’s journey, as does an encounter with the United Nations of this place: a group of wandering nomads from around the world who’ve come together for companionship.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026

It said that, as of Thursday, 11 of the nomads initially detained continued to be held.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025

The pilot explained to me that, somewhere in that muddy expanse below us, a group of Indonesian crocodile hunters had recently come across a group of New Guinea nomads.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• migrant
• pilgrim
• vagabond
• wanderer