wandering

[won-der-ing]

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.

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

• wanderingly adverb
• wanderingness noun
• unwandering adjective
• unwanderingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of wandering¹

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

Example Sentences

Every 10 minutes or so, a gong rang and an announcer proclaimed a new act was set to start — a magic show, a mariachi, a wandering gorilla.

From Los Angeles Times

A wandering elk spotted at dozens of locations across Central Europe this summer has been captured by authorities in Austria and released close to the Czech border.

From BBC

Care staff were supposed to support her and reattach the bag but were often too busy, leaving the woman wandering around the home screaming for help - in one instance for more than an hour.

From BBC

Sitting across from him at Canter’s, I also notice he appears to be a bit cross-eyed, which I find ironic because I always thought he had a wandering eye.

From Los Angeles Times

It’s a lovely image: Kirk as a modern-day Socrates, wandering the agora of America’s universities seeking to find truth by means of rhetorical contest.

From Salon

Related Words

• meandering 
• nomadic 
• roving