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definitions

vagrant

[vey-gruh nt]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vagrant ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

adjective

RELATED WORDS

transient, itinerant, wanderer, drifter, floater

Origin of vagrant

1400–50; late Middle English vagaraunt, apparently present participle of Anglo-French *vagrer, perhaps < Middle English *vagren, blend of vagen (< Latin vagārī to wander) and *walcren (> Old French wa(u)crer), equivalent to walc- (see walk) + -r- frequentative suffix + -en infinitive suffix
Related formsva·grant·ly, adverbva·grant·ness, nounnon·va·grant, adjectivenon·va·grant·ly, adverbnon·va·grant·ness, nounun·va·grant, adjectiveun·va·grant·ly, adverbun·va·grant·ness, noun

Synonyms for vagrant

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vagrant ON THESAURUS.COM
1. Vagrant, vagabond describe an idle, disreputable person who lacks a fixed abode. Vagrant suggests a tramp, a person with no settled abode or livelihood, an idle and disorderly person: picked up by police as a vagrant. Vagabond especially emphasizes the idea of worthless living, often by trickery, thieving, or other disreputable means: Actors were once classed with rogues and vagabonds.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for vagrant

Contemporary Examples of vagrant

Historical Examples of vagrant

  • He took to "vagrant courses," in which the muse forbears to follow him.

  • Their vagrant curiosity was aroused, but not yet to the point of investigation.

    Four Girls and a Compact

    Annie Hamilton Donnell

  • Is it, do you think chronic unemployment with a vagrant tendency?

  • Gabriel Faa, besides being a gipsy, was a vagrant and a deserter.

    Red Cap Tales

    Samuel Rutherford Crockett

  • He used it as a whip with which to scourge any vagrant hopes that dared creep into his heart.

    Quin

    Alice Hegan Rice

British Dictionary definitions for vagrant

vagrant

noun

a person of no settled abode, income, or job; tramp
a migratory animal that is off course

adjective

wandering about; nomadic
of, relating to, or characteristic of a vagrant or vagabond
moving in an erratic fashion, without aim or purpose; wayward
(of plants) showing uncontrolled or straggling growth
Archaic equivalent: vagrom (ˈveɪɡrəm)
Derived Formsvagrantly, adverbvagrantness, noun

Word Origin for vagrant

C15: probably from Old French waucrant (from wancrer to roam, of Germanic origin), but also influenced by Old French vagant vagabond, from Latin vagārī to wander
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for vagrant
n.

mid-15c., perhaps an alteration (by influence of Latin vagari "wander") of Anglo-French wacrant, noun use of present participle of Old French wacrer "to walk or wander," from a Germanic source (e.g. Old Norse valka "wander"). The adjective is recorded from early 15c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper