stray
Americanverb (used without object)
-
strays,
present (3rd person singular)
-
strayed,
past participle, past
-
straying
present participle
-
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.
-
to wander; roam.
I strayed through the maze of the forest.
-
to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course.
to stray from the teachings of the church.
- Synonyms:
- err
-
to digress or become distracted.
to stray from the main topic.
noun
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strays
plural
-
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.
-
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.
-
a person or animal that strays.
the strays of a flock.
-
Radio. strays, static.
adjective
-
straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.
-
found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.
-
Radio. undesired.
stray capacitance.
verb
-
to wander away, as from the correct path or from a given area
-
to wander haphazardly
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to digress from the point, lose concentration, etc
-
to deviate from certain moral standards
noun
-
-
a domestic animal, fowl, etc, that has wandered away from its place of keeping and is lost
-
( as modifier )
stray dogs
-
-
a lost or homeless person, esp a child
waifs and strays
-
an isolated or random occurrence, specimen, etc, that is out of place or outside the usual pattern
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
straysimple
-
strayssimple
-
have strayedperfect
-
has strayedperfect
-
am strayingprogressive
-
are strayingprogressive
-
is strayingprogressive
-
have been strayingperfect progressive
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has been strayingperfect progressive
Past
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strayedsimple
-
had strayedperfect
-
was strayingprogressive
-
were strayingprogressive
-
had been strayingperfect progressive
Future
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.
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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:
Later, it encountered a stray charging cord snaking across the ground as it vacuumed.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
During the subsequent appeal, seven objectors expressed concerns about the changes at the land linked to sanitation, stray animals and unusual noises.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
But those pros have a tendency to stray from their benchmarks—often in the wrong direction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Many current systems use superconducting circuits, but these are highly sensitive to electromagnetic noise and stray electrical charges - similar to the static electricity that can make hair cling to a balloon.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
A stray rock kicks out from Dr. Martin’s tire and tings Frank’s gleaming white beast of a truck.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
“Too often, the U.S. strays from long-term economic priorities, while China can go too far and fail to acknowledge its mistakes until it is too late. There is a happy median in there somewhere.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
“Yesteryear” strays from this well-worn narrative with Natalie, a deliciously unlikable protagonist whose greatest flaw is her competence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 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
Each 11-minute episode follows mundane escapades, like hosting a movie night or getting in a hot tub, punctuated by a somewhat disturbing art style and clumsy-on-purpose animation that strays into the uncanny valley.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2025
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen quite as many strays around the lanes lately.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
The person submitted a photo of goats and a Labrador to the council and said they had strayed onto their land.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“I strayed on my wife, and it’s devastating to her and not a very pretty picture. What it isn’t is a crime,” he said at the time.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Mixue has strayed from its playbook by opening in expensive Manhattan and Hollywood ZIP Codes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
On our way back down, an Australian tourist strayed from the path toward a tunnel entrance.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Her lips were coated in a complementary coral gloss, and a bit of the color had strayed beyond the borders.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
Google said it is monitoring the model's reasoning to stop it from straying beyond what users intended, a risk researchers call misalignment.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 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
The Treasury market has been quiet lately, with 10-year debt barely straying from a yield of 4.3% in April.
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 2026
A lost wife, a straying man, a better life, a place to come to rest, a purpose.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his, new broom-stick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch field where he’d be learning to play that night.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
