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
-
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
-
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
-
has been strayingperfect progressive
Past
-
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.
Vocabulary lists containing stray
Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Aretha Franklin (1942 - 2018) Tribute List
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Luna was a stray for her first year before she was found by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and adopted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Happy ending for stray pup that sparked wild tarmac chase.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
If researchers tried to perform the experiment with a charged particle, stray electromagnetic fields could overwhelm the gravitational effect they are attempting to detect.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Back then, phone interruptions were mostly relegated to a few stray pings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
I did not have to watch out for potholes or stray dogs.
From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez
But Ms. Gammon never strays far from the mystery of Jutta and Lukas’s demise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
When our conversation strays into this territory, he turns blunt.
From Salon ● May 15, 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
Among Garden City's animals are two gray tomcats who are always together—thin, dirty strays with strange and clever habits.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
He dedicated that win to British cyclist Finlay Tarling, 19, who died on 14 August during the Volta a Portugal following a high-speed collision with a van that had strayed on to the closed road.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
More recently, however, as cost-of-living concerns have risen for Singaporean voters, the government has strayed from that formula.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
On our way back down, an Australian tourist strayed from the path toward a tunnel entrance.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Inflation has strayed above the Fed target for more than five years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
But his back was on fire with pain, and Lazlo’s glance strayed there as though he knew it.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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
American chip making giant Nvidia announced on Monday that it created a system designed to stop autonomous AI programs from straying beyond what they were instructed to do.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
"Parents and grandparents prayed their children would have hearts like the White Arrow, never straying from the proper path," says Elfrida Natkime, a young Amungme woman.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
In addition, Treasury straying away from its “regular and predictable” mantra could increase term premium in the long run, says Molly Brooks, research strategist at TD Securities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
I turned the pages slowly to make the story last, but my thoughts kept straying to my brother.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
