roam
Americanverb (used without object)
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roams,
present (3rd person singular)
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roamed,
past participle, past
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roaming
present participle
verb (used with object)
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roams,
present (3rd person singular)
-
roamed,
past participle, past
-
roaming
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
Roam, ramble, range, rove imply wandering about over (usually) a considerable amount of territory. Roam implies a wandering or traveling over a large area, especially as prompted by restlessness or curiosity: to roam through a forest. Ramble implies pleasant, carefree moving about, walking with no specific purpose and for a limited distance: to ramble through fields near home. Range usually implies wandering over a more or less defined but extensive area in search of something: Cattle range over the plains. Rove sometimes implies wandering with specific incentive or aim, as an animal for prey: Bandits rove through these mountains.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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roamsimple
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roamssimple
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have roamedperfect
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has roamedperfect
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am roamingprogressive
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are roamingprogressive
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is roamingprogressive
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have been roamingperfect progressive
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has been roamingperfect progressive
Past
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roamedsimple
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had roamedperfect
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was roamingprogressive
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were roamingprogressive
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had been roamingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of roam
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English romen origin uncertain
Explanation
When you wander without a plan or a specific destination, you roam. Your cat may stay close to your house when you let her outside, or she may roam around the neighborhood all day. Dogs and kids on bikes tend to roam in packs, looking for food or fun, while a tiger in the zoo roams aimlessly around his enclosure. Book characters' eyes sometimes roam, too, or glance over a scene without stopping: "Her eyes roam across the group, but there are no familiar faces." Experts have tried connecting roam to "pilgrimages to Rome," but there seems to be no relation between roam and Rome.
Vocabulary lists containing roam
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
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Greetings, World Traveler! — List 2
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"When Cultures Meet"
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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:
Waymo’s robotaxis will soon roam a much larger portion of California as the company received approval to expand across 18 counties.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
But Lissie Harper said that she was "beyond appalled and bristling with anger to hear that Andrew's killers are soon to be free to roam the streets".
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Debbie Lyons-Blythe, a cattle rancher from Kansas, said losing the prairie grasses cattle roam on is a problem, but she is also increasingly turning to AI to help better manage her operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
There are few homes immediately around the proposed release site, but villages, roads and dams all fall within the broader area tigers might one day roam.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
Prospero could safely afford to create a single Caliban on an isolated island and let him roam at large.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
“He’s been my muse on this street for a while. … He just roams around the store, chills, does his little nap thing, and hangs out with everybody, so he’s very social.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Well, it’s a “30 for 30” presentation, and that series roams far and wide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2025
As the camera roams the countryside, godlike and unnoticed, we hear the hag’s breath rattling on the soundtrack.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2025
He gets precious little from the area where O’Riley roams.
From BBC ● May 11, 2024
He picks a region and roams the countryside for a week or perhaps two, visiting vineyards and collecting bottles of pleasing vintage to be shipped back to Munich.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
It has hit regions in the north and east where the presence of the state is weak, health infrastructure is largely lacking and myriad armed groups have roamed for decades.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
So when a calf disappeared into the tall grass recently, he roamed among the herd making low, rumbling grunts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Small digs have since uncovered "extremely rare" evidence of early humans and animals - including the bones of a hippopotamus which roamed Wales 120,000 years ago.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The win doesn’t just vault the 2026 Knicks into New York immortality—it makes Brunson perhaps the most beloved New Yorker since Derek Jeter roamed the Yankee Stadium infield.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
They were not large or fierce, like the bears and tigers that roamed the mountains, but they were known to be fiendishly clever.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
NASA's Perseverance rover, which has been roaming the red planet since 2021, has already collected samples ready to be taken back to Earth.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
In the absence of news from authorities, Riches livestreamed for nine hours while roaming the perimeter of the Guthrie house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
It was the latter, who played as a roaming 10, posing unanswered questions of France's midfield and backline.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
And now, after two and a half years of roaming the state between work assignments, they’re back to report that they’ve covered all 101 locations on that list.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The other Titans were supposed to be here in Tartarus—maybe bound in chains, or roaming aimlessly, or hiding in some of those dark crevices.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
