ramble
Americanverb (used without object)
-
rambles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rambled,
past participle, past
-
rambling
present participle
-
to wander around in a leisurely, aimless manner.
They rambled through the shops until closing time.
-
to take a course with many turns or windings, as a stream or path.
-
to grow in a random, unsystematic fashion.
The vine rambled over the walls and tree trunks.
-
to talk or write in a discursive, aimless way (usually followed byon ).
The speaker rambled on with anecdote after anecdote.
verb (used with object)
-
rambles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
rambled,
past participle, past
-
rambling
present participle
noun
-
rambles
plural
verb
-
to stroll about freely, as for relaxation, with no particular direction
-
(of paths, streams, etc) to follow a winding course; meander
-
(of plants) to grow in a random fashion
-
(of speech, writing, etc) to lack organization
noun
Synonym Usage
See roam.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ramblesimple
-
ramblessimple
-
have rambledperfect
-
has rambledperfect
-
am ramblingprogressive
-
are ramblingprogressive
-
is ramblingprogressive
-
have been ramblingperfect progressive
-
has been ramblingperfect progressive
Past
-
rambledsimple
-
had rambledperfect
-
was ramblingprogressive
-
were ramblingprogressive
-
had been ramblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ramble
First recorded in 1610–20; origin uncertain
Explanation
You ramble when your talking or your walking goes on and on and on. And on. You’re in no hurry to make a point or get to your destination — if there is one at all. The word ramble comes from similar roots as roam. They both mean wander, but they’re often used a little differently. You might roam around on vacation to relax or find adventure. If you’re a shark, you roam the deep sea for food. On the other hand, if the person on the plane next to you chatters nervously and can’t stop, you wish they wouldn’t ramble on like that.
Vocabulary lists containing ramble
25 Ways of Walking
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Look Both Ways
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Wish
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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:
His fusion of speaking and singing allows him to ramble as he embraces absurdity, non sequiturs and free association with a stand-up comic’s sense of timing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
But, no objective observer could describe such a life as a "ramble".
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2024
But ultimately, ABC’s decision to let Trump ramble at times felt judicious.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2024
“We did not write vows ahead of time, so maybe some planning there would have helped me ramble a bit less, but it was overall a good time for all!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2024
He never cares to ramble or to roam...
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
Usually when a person rambles, myself included, it’s because they don’t feel comfortable with the person to whom they are talking.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
Among their findings: Weekend automobile rambles were replacing church attendance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
He rambles on: “We are even adding Battleships, which are 100 times more powerful than the ones that roamed the Seas during World War II.”
From Slate ● Feb. 6, 2026
And the Rams had to deal with two of those soul-crushing rambles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2024
“This new voice of yours rambles on like thunder in the rainy season.”
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
Asked about defending Taiwan, she rambled about making sure “we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
For once, nobody rambled, nobody went off script, and almost everyone remembered to thank their mum.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
As they waited for her husband to return, the masked man rambled about himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025
During the 10-minute phone interview, he ranted and rambled and seemed to be accidentally pressing various buttons on his phone, punctuating the broadcast with random beeping—that is, until he was ultimately cut off.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2024
I was so tired that I rambled a bit, but he was patient with my digressions.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
But a New York judge flatly rejected the appeal, describing it as "lengthy and rambling".
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
In 1962, the Saar family moved to a rambling hillside home in Laurel Canyon, then a very rustic part of L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
Herb Alpert walks up a long driveway at his rambling Malibu estate, wincing slightly after having woken up around 3 a.m. with a cramp in his left calf.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
“Every time we talked about the prospect of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship,” he said during a long and at times rambling address.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
Its music was sonorous, rambling, some of the turns unexpected and lovely.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
