Synonyms

wandering

American

[won-der-ing] / ˈwɒn dər ɪŋ /

adjective

moving from place to place without a fixed plan; roaming; rambling.

Crowds of wandering tourists crossed the square.
having no permanent residence; nomadic.

They were historically a wandering people, moving seasonally through the area.
meandering; winding.

They followed a wandering path down the mountain.

noun

an aimless roving about; leisurely traveling from place to place.

For our honeymoon we had a period of delightful wandering through Italy.
Usually wanderings.
1. aimless travels; meanderings.
  
  Her wanderings took her all over the world.
2. disordered thoughts or utterances; incoherencies.
  
  mental wanderings;
  the wanderings of delirium.
seemingly aimless or random movement from one place to another by a person with a mental or cognitive disability or impairment.

Wandering by Alzheimer’s patients is a problem in nursing homes.

Other Word Forms

unwandering adjective
unwanderingly adverb
wanderingly adverb
wanderingness noun

Etymology

Origin of wandering

First recorded before 1000; Middle English (noun, adjective), Old English wandrigende (adjective); wander ( def. ), -ing ² ( def. ), -ing ¹ ( def. )

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.

Ms. Gerson takes her book’s title from the biblical story of the Exodus—“my father was a wandering Aramean”—to remind us of the itinerant past all humans share.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026

"We've all had that moment of wandering into a club and scanning the room with your peripheral vision and being like, 'Are they there? Are they there?'" she says.

From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026

As a kid wandering the grocery store aisles with my mom, spotting the shiny green foil on the white O’Ryan’s boxes felt almost as exciting as presents from Santa on Christmas morning.

From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026

He left to pursue business opportunities in Mexico but, due to a hurricane, somehow ended up in Chile, spent a year wandering north toward America, and then scored an internship in Colombia.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026

He would have to find a way to reprimand the Afterlife for sending a wandering soul so unexpectedly.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023