wandering
Americanadjective
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moving from place to place without a fixed plan; roaming; rambling.
Crowds of wandering tourists crossed the square.
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having no permanent residence; nomadic.
They were historically a wandering people, moving seasonally through the area.
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meandering; winding.
They followed a wandering path down the mountain.
noun
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an aimless roving about; leisurely traveling from place to place.
For our honeymoon we had a period of delightful wandering through Italy.
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Usually wanderings.
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aimless travels; meanderings.
Her wanderings took her all over the world.
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disordered thoughts or utterances; incoherencies.
mental wanderings;
the wanderings of delirium.
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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
Etymology
Origin of wandering
First recorded before 1000; Middle English (noun, adjective), Old English wandrigende (adjective); see 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.
Passengers could be seen from afar wandering around on the deck of the ship, or at the windows, all in white medical face masks, as the first evacuations took place on Sunday morning.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
After wandering near homes and businesses, the big cat reportedly took refuge underneath a pickup truck at an apartment complex, NBC7 in San Diego reported.
From Los Angeles Times • May 6, 2026
Growing up in Chicago, he says his earliest memory was being three years old, his parents having just divorced, and wandering out of bed to find his mother alone watching “Yellow Submarine.”
From Salon • Apr. 23, 2026
Ask yourself when you’ve been happiest together—maybe when you were watching sports and ordering pizza, or wandering city streets and discovering eateries frequented by taxi drivers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
“The Afterlife is very protective of its Ushers. If a wandering soul intends to harm us—er, me—they’re powerless.”
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
