wander
Americanverb (used without object)
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to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray.
to wander over the earth.
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to go aimlessly, indirectly, or casually; meander.
The river wanders among the rocks.
- Synonyms:
- saunter
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to extend in an irregular course or direction.
Foothills wandered off to the south.
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to move, pass, or turn idly, as the hand or the eyes.
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(of the mind, thoughts, desires, etc.) to take one direction or another without conscious intent or control.
His attention wandered as the speaker droned on.
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to stray from a path, place, companions, etc..
During the storm the ship wandered from its course.
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to deviate in conduct, belief, etc.; err; go astray.
Let me not wander from Thy Commandments.
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to think or speak confusedly or incoherently.
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(of a person with a mental disorder or cognitive impairment) to move about or walk in a seemingly aimless or random manner.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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(also tr) to move or travel about, in, or through (a place) without any definite purpose or destination
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to proceed in an irregular course; meander
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to go astray, as from a path or course
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(of the mind, thoughts, etc) to lose concentration or direction
-
to think or speak incoherently or illogically
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wandersimple
-
wanderssimple
-
have wanderedperfect
-
has wanderedperfect
-
am wanderingprogressive
-
are wanderingprogressive
-
is wanderingprogressive
-
have been wanderingperfect progressive
-
has been wanderingperfect progressive
Past
-
wanderedsimple
-
had wanderedperfect
-
was wanderingprogressive
-
were wanderingprogressive
-
had been wanderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wander
First recorded before 900; Middle English wandren, Old English wandrian “to wend repeatedly” (cognate with German wandern ), from wendan; see wend
Explanation
The verb wander describes something that has lost track. If you're watching a boring movie, your mind might begin to wander. If you don't have a clear goal, you could wander too — meaning you drift aimlessly. When you wander mentally, your thoughts get lost. And when you wander physically, you don't have a destination, so it's also possible to lose your bearings and not know where you are — or how to get back. That's why wander is also used to describe someone who drifts from place to place or job to job without a sense of direction or purpose.
Vocabulary lists containing wander
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"The Pedestrian" by Ray Bradbury
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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:
Most of Aviv’s characters wander through life uneasily, plagued by misdiagnosed, undiagnosable or undertreated maladies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
They wander among the houses -- painted mostly in shades of white, yellow or brown -- and go biking or hiking in the surrounding hills of central Slovakia.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
"Last night I slept fairly well on the sofa, so no need to wander further downstairs to the hallway," she says.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
He hid food and other dangerous items from her and stayed vigilant to ensure she wouldn’t wander off.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Occasionally, he’d wander over to the Lombardy–Reshevsky game and scan it for a few seconds.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Chip falls in with a troupe of street performers, evades the police, juggles along the Seine and eventually wanders into a smoky bar, where Penelope is strumming her guitar.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
At 100, Attenborough no longer wanders the world's jungles and deserts.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
As she makes haste to finish her shopping, a young man wanders past clutching a small glass bottle of a green spread.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
Wearing a headlamp in the shape of a pistol and proudly displaying a spare gold leg that serves as a not-very-dexterous arm, Masli wanders the rows of the theater in search of someone to help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2025
“That’s what my mom calls our house whenever someone wanders in with their lives on fire. It’s a joke we say when she boots me to the couch.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
But when the kick-off was delayed from 01:00 to 02:00, Merry said her husband wandered off for a nap.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Bruce Young, 80, a descendant of homesteaders, sat on his porch overlooking Stoner Creek near the Territory 1889 site, and shook his head as a mule deer wandered past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
At various points while watching “Louis C.K.: Ridiculous,” my mind wandered back to the many times such kamikaze socializing missions were thrust upon me when I was a kid.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
The more casual fairgoers wandered by the stage without stopping.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
“Can’t be worse than the last time,” Jack said to her as his grandfather wandered off toward the village’s inn.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
The biographical details may come from the author’s grandfather, but the character seems decidedly larger-than-life, a cross between Bruce Wayne, a Japanese ronin and an archetypal wandering Jew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The positioning remained impressively accurate, without the blind spots or wandering location dots that often plague consumer pet trackers.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026
On Tuesday, I found myself wandering the halls of Congress.
From Salon ● May 29, 2026
It depicted a young boy wandering lost through the Backrooms' terrifying corridors.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
We were wandering around Mr. Potter Palmer’s dry-goods store just a day or so later, my fingers aching from working so many hours on Aunt Kitty’s red fortune-teller costume.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
