roving

¹

[roh-ving]

adjective

1. roaming or wandering.

2. not assigned or restricted to any particular location, area, topic, etc..

   a roving editor.

3. not assigned to any particular diplomatic post but having a special mission.

   a roving ambassador.

roving

²

[roh-ving]

noun

1. a soft strand of fiber that has been twisted, attenuated, and freed of foreign matter preparatory to its conversion into yarn.

2. the final phase of carding, in which this is done.

Other Word Forms

• rovingly adverb
• rovingness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of roving¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; rove ¹ + -ing ²

Origin of roving²

First recorded in 1785–95; rove ³ + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Michael stared absently at Ricki Lake as she interviewed a couple about the boyfriend’s roving eye.

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Guests of this Coffin Creek attraction were carted along from one breached containment scenario to the next, with roving monsters periodically surprising them in the darkness between the scantily lighted vignettes.

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After James returned his talents to Cleveland in 2014, the Cavaliers also brought back Jones, first as a “roving instructor” and player-development coach and later as a full-fledged assistant.

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She teaches herself to shoot and hunt, and even to cope with roving polar bears.

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It’s unclear exactly how he was injured, but his lawyers say that Rovidio Marin had been at the car wash on Aug. 27, when immigration agents doing a “roving patrol” stormed in and raided it.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• itinerant 
• peripatetic 
• wandering