stray

American  

[strey] / streɪ /

verb (used without object)

• strays,
  present (3rd person singular)
• strayed,
  past participle,  past
• straying
  present participle

1. to deviate from the direct course, leave the proper place, or go beyond the proper limits, especially without a fixed course or purpose.

   to stray from the main road.

   Synonyms:

   range, rove

2. to wander; roam.

   I strayed through the maze of the forest.

   Synonyms:

   meander, drift

3. to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course.

   to stray from the teachings of the church.

   Synonyms:

   err

4. to digress or become distracted.

   to stray from the main topic.

---

noun

• strays
  plural

1. a domestic animal found wandering at large or without an owner.

   The humane society traps strays, spays or neuters them, and returns them to the feral colony in which they were found.

2. any person or animal who is homeless or friendless.

   For a popular girl, she has the oddest misfit friends—her mom says she just can’t help but collect strays.

3. a person or animal that strays.

   the strays of a flock.

4. Radio. strays, static.

adjective

1. straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.

2. found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.

3. Radio. undesired.

   stray capacitance.

stray British  

/ streɪ /

verb

1. to wander away, as from the correct path or from a given area

2. to wander haphazardly

3. to digress from the point, lose concentration, etc

4. to deviate from certain moral standards

---

noun

1. 1. a domestic animal, fowl, etc, that has wandered away from its place of keeping and is lost

   2. ( as modifier )

      stray dogs

2. a lost or homeless person, esp a child

   waifs and strays

3. an isolated or random occurrence, specimen, etc, that is out of place or outside the usual pattern

adjective

1. scattered, random, or haphazard

   a stray bullet grazed his thigh

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• strayer
  noun
• unstraying
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• strays
  plural

Participles

• straying
  present
• strayed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• stray
  simple
• strays
  simple
• have strayed
  perfect
• has strayed
  perfect
• am straying
  progressive
• are straying
  progressive
• is straying
  progressive
• have been straying
  perfect progressive
• has been straying
  perfect progressive

Past

• strayed
  simple
• had strayed
  perfect
• was straying
  progressive
• were straying
  progressive
• had been straying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will stray
  simple
• will have strayed
  perfect
• will be straying
  progressive
• will have been straying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of stray

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb straien, strayen, from Old French estraier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin extrāvagāre “to wander out of bounds”; see origin at extravagant

Explanation

Little Red Riding Hood strayed from the path and ended up getting eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. When you stray, you wander off without paying attention to where you're going, and sometimes you get in trouble. Stray can be used as a verb or as a noun. Your attention may stray when you're tired and listening to a very boring lecture. You may be the kind of person who brings home strays, the dogs and cats that have wandered away from their homes and are lost and hungry. When you're organizing your sock drawer and you've got one sock without a mate, you might find the stray sock left behind in the dryer.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stray strays strayed straying

A stray SpaceX rocket has crashed into the Moon, forming a crater near a famous lunar landmark and giving scientists a unique research opportunity that could help future missions.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Utility company Consolidated Edison has detected stray voltage at the site weeks after the death, a possible cause for the horse’s sudden flight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Roughly once every 100,000 years, a star in a given galaxy may stray close enough to one of these black holes to be torn apart in a tidal disruption event.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

It is a place out of time, reached by a rocky road between arid hills and the sea where you have to dodge stray cows, goats and wild horses.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

Some of the uranium 238 atoms will absorb a stray neutron and undergo a series of transformations to become plutonium 239.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Most kittens and cats brought to the shelter are strays, or so-called community cats without clear owners.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

When our conversation strays into this territory, he turns blunt.

From Salon ● May 15, 2026

Mr. James has compiled his own self-help manifesto, one that strays into platitudes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026

For casual listeners, there are other signs: Inconsistent drum patterns, bland lyrics, and a singer who never strays from the melody or lets rip on the final chorus.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026

Lily strays toward a dessert table already crowded with cookies and brownies, but I grab her hand and redirect her toward Aunt Melissa.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Instead, it strayed off course and eventually reached its final resting place on the moon’s surface.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

The high court rejected all three of those policies, but Alito never strayed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

And though she liked the show, she thought it strayed too far from the books.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

Early on, England hit the fielders in the deep too often when Australia strayed from their straight lines.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

Sailors are mighty superstitious, and as they went about the day’s business, they were careful to avoid it, as if they’d catch cannibalism, or bad luck, if they strayed too close.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

“Our library-based book club talked about it for a solid 90 minutes without straying from what the book itself had to offer its readers.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

But Venters said that the brand’s namesake designer is still dead-set on the company remaining a stalwart British brand-not straying too far from its cultural origin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

The move had some customers questioning if the app was straying too far from its original purpose.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Last week, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned after a political crisis over Russia-bound Ukrainian drones straying into Latvian territory.

From BBC ● May 20, 2026

Victor smiled as he noticed how her eyes kept straying toward the large windows and the snowflakes, which drifted past slowly.

From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke

Related Words

• deviate
• drift
• err
• meander
• roam
• swerve