stray
Americanverb (used without object)
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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.
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to wander; roam.
I strayed through the maze of the forest.
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to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course.
to stray from the teachings of the church.
- Synonyms:
- err
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to digress or become distracted.
to stray from the main topic.
noun
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strays
plural
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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.
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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.
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a person or animal that strays.
the strays of a flock.
-
Radio. strays, static.
adjective
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straying or having strayed, as a domestic animal.
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found or occurring apart from others or as an isolated or casual instance; incidental or occasional.
-
Radio. undesired.
stray capacitance.
verb
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to wander away, as from the correct path or from a given area
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to wander haphazardly
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to digress from the point, lose concentration, etc
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to deviate from certain moral standards
noun
-
-
a domestic animal, fowl, etc, that has wandered away from its place of keeping and is lost
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( as modifier )
stray dogs
-
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a lost or homeless person, esp a child
waifs and strays
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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
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straysimple
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strayssimple
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have strayedperfect
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has strayedperfect
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am strayingprogressive
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are strayingprogressive
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is strayingprogressive
-
have been strayingperfect progressive
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has been strayingperfect progressive
Past
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strayedsimple
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had strayedperfect
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was strayingprogressive
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were strayingprogressive
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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.
Vocabulary lists containing stray
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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:
Hallaq's uncle, also named Mohammed Hallaq, told AFP that his nephew was killed by a stray bullet during a confrontation between the army patrol and a group of older youths.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Read about what scientists can learn from a stray SpaceX rocket hitting the Moon.
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
Celia stands in the doorway, stray curls escaping her upswept hair.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Where it strays from sitcom formula is the nature of the situations in the comedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 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
Jully Lee was brilliant as Hannah, the itinerant painter who turns up with her 97-year-old poet father at a Mexican seaside inn that is like a refuge for the world’s strays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
Maybe because all of them used to be strays and were grateful for their second chances.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
In fact, the deeply personal lyrics were inspired by Parton’s mother and her exhausted loyalty to a husband who strayed and took her for granted.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Britain's Fin Tarling, 19, died during the Volta a Portugal on Friday following a high-speed collision with a van which had strayed on to the closed road.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 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
“I do apologize, but we have strayed off topic. Where are my manners? I believe that introductions are in order. I don’t recall hearing your names.”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Swinney said Hamilton was straying into "incredibly inappropriate territory" and denied trying to sweep the story under the carpet.
From BBC ● May 26, 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
But I guess that’s not the way it works in real life, because instead of focusing on the Flash, I find my mind straying back to my mom and grandma again.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
