perambulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to walk through, about, or over; travel through; traverse.
-
to traverse in order to examine or inspect.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to walk about (a place)
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(tr) to walk round in order to inspect
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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perambulatesimple
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perambulatessimple
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have perambulatedperfect
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has perambulatedperfect
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am perambulatingprogressive
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are perambulatingprogressive
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is perambulatingprogressive
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have been perambulatingperfect progressive
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has been perambulatingperfect progressive
Past
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perambulatedsimple
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had perambulatedperfect
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was perambulatingprogressive
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were perambulatingprogressive
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had been perambulatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing perambulate
Walk the Walk: Amb
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 2
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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.
There we perambulate amongst different scenery and mobile-order food — masked, socially distant, seeking some watered-down sense of normalcy.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2021
Dear Jane Austen fans: Run, don’t perambulate, to see “Lovers’ Vows.”
From Washington Post • Nov. 11, 2019
It doesn’t perambulate, but plummets with the graceful inevitability of a shot bird.
From New York Times • May 10, 2018
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
In "Rogation Week" the clergy in their richest vestments, and carrying crosses, banners, and relics, perambulate the fields, followed by crowds of men and women.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Sastrow, Bartholomew
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.
