- present participle of ramble.
rambling
Americanadjective
-
aimlessly wandering.
-
taking an irregular course; straggling.
a rambling brook.
-
spread out irregularly in various directions.
a rambling mansion.
-
straying from one subject to another; desultory.
a rambling novel.
- Synonyms:
- discursive
adjective
-
straggling or sprawling haphazardly; unplanned
a rambling old house
-
(of speech or writing) lacking a coherent plan; diffuse and disconnected
-
(of a plant, esp a rose) profusely climbing and straggling
-
nomadic; wandering
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rambling
Explanation
The adjective rambling means confused and long-winded, the way you could describe your grandfather's endless rambling stories of his childhood. Rambling always means indirect and a little confusing, which can be a negative quality in a classroom lecture or movie plot — but when you're talking about a path through the woods, rambling is a charming way to describe it. You might love to hike through the woods on rambling trails that twist and turn. Rambling comes from the verb ramble, "walk or stroll," which is a variant on the older verb romen, "to walk, or to go," and related to "roam."
Vocabulary lists containing rambling
Talk the Talk: Synonyms for "Wordy"
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One of Us Is Lying
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"The History Teacher" by Billy Collins
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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.
But in his final public campaign appearance on Monday, Trump barely touched on the election and gave a rambling talk about his problem-plagued renovation of Washington's Reflecting Pool.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
To create his rambling California oasis in the middle of a busy neighborhood, Brundo acquired house after house on the south side of his lot over the years so he could keep expanding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
“If someone is rambling we will often interrupt and say what is the goal?” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
During the war, he baffled international negotiators with rambling diatribes on Serbian history.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
I was rambling dizzily about one street when I saw a group of boys pacing briskly and excitedly about the entrance to a men’s compound similar to the one in our neighbourhood.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
