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.

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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

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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

"The name seemed fitting because the posture of the fossil's chelae strongly resembles the group's trademark pose. Stray Kids, I should add, is the favorite band of one of the paper's authors, Fenja Haug."

From Science Daily • May 25, 2026

Ateez will be the third K-pop group to top the bill of the London festival, with Blackpink taking to the stage in 2023, followed by Stray Kids in 2024.

From BBC • May 18, 2026

Taylor Swift was the biggest-selling global artist of 2025, followed by Korean group Stray kids and Canadian rapper Drake.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

Stray hydrogen is converted into water to minimize the risk of explosions, and filters remove radioactive particles from the gases vented into the air.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 28, 2025

Stray blades of grass poked between the cracks of the footpath.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri

Related Words

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