wandering

American  

[won-der-ing] / ˈwɒn dər ɪŋ /

adjective

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

   Crowds of wandering tourists crossed the square.

2. having no permanent residence; nomadic.

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

3. meandering; winding.

   They followed a wandering path down the mountain.

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noun

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

   For our honeymoon we had a period of delightful wandering through Italy.

2. 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.

3. 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

Carol Ochoa, who lives with her family in a Guadalajara suburb, said the authorities called for a Code Red, meaning no wandering outside.

From The Wall Street Journal

This elusive, tantalizing novel aims for the effect of the raga—to conjure “the sadness, the richness, the pleasure of the waiting and the wandering.”

From The Wall Street Journal

He should have surveyed everyone he knew, instead of wandering around in a daze.

From Literature

There are local legends of a ghostly Dutchman carrying a sack wandering the northern parts of the island.

From BBC

I see three boys skateboarding, a pick-up truck idling a few spaces over, and a handful of road trippers wandering into McDonald’s for a bathroom break.

From Literature

Related Words

• meandering
• nomadic
• roving