perambulate

American  

[per-am-byuh-leyt] / pərˈæm bjəˌleɪt /

verb (used with object)

• perambulates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perambulated,
  past participle,  past
• perambulating
  present participle

1. to walk through, about, or over; travel through; traverse.

2. to traverse in order to examine or inspect.

---

verb (used without object)

• perambulates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perambulated,
  past participle,  past
• perambulating
  present participle

1. to walk or travel about; stroll.

   Synonyms:

   ramble, meander, mosey, amble, promenade, saunter

perambulate British  

/ -trɪ, pəˈræmbjʊˌleɪt, pəˈræmbjʊlətərɪ /

verb

1. to walk about (a place)

2. (tr) to walk round in order to inspect

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• perambulation
  noun
• perambulatory
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• perambulating
  present
• perambulated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• perambulate
  simple
• perambulates
  simple
• have perambulated
  perfect
• has perambulated
  perfect
• am perambulating
  progressive
• are perambulating
  progressive
• is perambulating
  progressive
• have been perambulating
  perfect progressive
• has been perambulating
  perfect progressive

Past

• perambulated
  simple
• had perambulated
  perfect
• was perambulating
  progressive
• were perambulating
  progressive
• had been perambulating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will perambulate
  simple
• will have perambulated
  perfect
• will be perambulating
  progressive
• will have been perambulating
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of perambulate

First recorded in 1560–70; from Latin perambulātus, past participle of perambulāre “to walk through”; see origin at per-, ambulate

Explanation

If you're fond of strolling around your neighborhood with no special destination, you like to perambulate. When you walk for the sake of taking a walk, you perambulate. It's an old-fashioned way to describe taking an after-dinner stroll or a meander through the zoo. The Latin word at the root of perambulate is ambulare, "to walk," and the more common word amble shares this origin. Another related word is perambulator, a mainly British term for a baby carriage or stroller, which is shortened to the more familiar pram.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perambulate perambulates perambulated perambulating

Dear Jane Austen fans: Run, don’t perambulate, to see “Lovers’ Vows.”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2019

Cleese’s habitual sardonicism notwithstanding, it’s a gentle sort of farce, tenderly played and set mostly to the speed at which the elder cast members perambulate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2019

There’s an orchard of fruit trees and emus perambulate right out your back door.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2017

I follow Nietzsche’s dictum that “only ideas won by walking have any value” and need to perambulate to really get my mind working.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 18, 2017

At this Augustus III blushed, turned his back and continued to perambulate the room.

From Count Br?hl by Kraszewski, Jo?zef Ignacy

They in turn are part of a broader florescence of nature-writing in Britain led by Robert Macfarlane, whose book, “The Old Ways”, perambulates around the country’s ancient byways.

From Economist ● Jul. 5, 2018

Volume changes into line, as our eye perambulates.

From Time Magazine Archive

After another crack on the noggin, Smothers perambulates into the '40s.

From Time Magazine Archive

And as the plot perambulates through three generations, the Kleenex-crumpling goes on and on for the better part of three hours.

From Time Magazine Archive

He lives neither in house nor camp, but perambulates his large estate and when night comes lies down wherever he may happen to be.

From Our Southern Highlanders by Kephart, Horace

The first edition of the Sherlock Holmes' adventure Hound Of The Baskervilles is signed with the comment: "I perambulated Dartmoor before I wrote this book," a reference to the book's setting.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2023

In 1884, he perambulated more than 3,000 miles from Ohio to L.A., writing newspaper dispatches along the way and becoming a sympathetic ethnographer of Native American culture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2022

Everywhere barekneed youngsters in khaki perambulated through the streets with cameras and autograph books.

From Time Magazine Archive

I may well have promenaded, pedestrianized, peregrinated, ambulated, perambulated, circumambulated, hoofed, and locomoted ...

From Time Magazine Archive

To exercise the former, he perambulated the streets of the city; his brain was busy with the latter constantly, whenever its energies were not devoted to seeing and hearing.

From A Red Wallflower by Warner, Susan

Scaling Southern California’s tallest peaks provides a purer rush than perambulating its most famous streets, but the streets stick with you.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2023

"It was then reported, that a mad woman was in the habit of disturbing the neighbours, by perambulating the church-yard and other walks, in strange and uncouth dresses," the magazine article added.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2022

Then Simone Zaza brought the house down by mimicking a man perambulating down a walkway constructed of hot coals, broken glass and bricks of Lego, before blazing the ball way over the bar.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 15, 2016

Plain navy stripes, like so many perambulating beach umbrellas?

From New York Times ● Sep. 23, 2012

The halls—usually full of residents slowly perambulating from one area to the other or just sitting around chatting—were completely empty.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman