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)
-
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
-
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:
"Once my men are dropped, they have to roam over large distances to conduct search and rescue," Hawadi said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
From there, I’ll stop and roam around a bit at Del Amo Fashion Center, just to walk it off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
With that much space, Shakur had plenty of room to roam across different styles, and few tracks display his versatility like “Got My Mind Made Up.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 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
Some days there was no food to eat, and Allen and his best friend, Louis Taylor, would roam the streets looking for old cans and bottles to turn in for a few cents.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
After reading Mr. Kneale’s op-ed we have an idea for a new slogan for the Sunshine State: Florida, where wildlife roams free and so do you.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
He posted a list on X of what he called “press credentialing FOR DUMMIES: Press no longer roams free Press must wear visible badge Credentialed press no longer permitted to solicit criminal acts.”
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2025
He delights in tall tales of a Barbary lion that has escaped Northern Africa and now roams the streets of Paris.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025
He gets precious little from the area where O’Riley roams.
From BBC ● May 11, 2024
He goes to the door of the bus and calls to Sasha, who roams the sidewalk with a cell phone, charred legs.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
In Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, dozens of excavators operate day and night to extract gold from the mountains where villagers and their livestock once roamed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 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
For three years, she roamed London's streets, often around King's Cross railway station.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Many are caught on the beach-facing side, meaning they’d already roamed around on the inside of the net.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
Clutching the shirt, my gaze roamed past my phone and settled on the lone picture on the dresser.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
Ranch activities include hurtling through agility courses, swimming beneath a massive artificial waterfall and roaming sprawling fantasy playgrounds built expressly for their entertainment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
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
Mercedes Cabrera Lafaro was hoping to reopen her beauty parlor now that the large groups of young men were no longer roaming the streets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Earlier, when I drove to Gray Horse, I’d been startled by the sight of bison roaming through the prairie with their bowed heads and massive woolly bodies supported seemingly impossibly on narrow legs.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
