wander
Americanverb (used without object)
-
wanders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wandered,
past participle, past
-
wandering
present participle
-
to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray.
to wander over the earth.
-
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.
-
(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.
-
(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)
-
wanders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wandered,
past participle, past
-
wandering
present participle
noun
-
wanders
plural
verb
-
(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
-
(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
-
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:
I would wander in with my perfectly sized tote, allow whatever charmed me to determine dinner and wait for the ingredients to organize themselves.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
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
In the 1,001 Nights, sometimes characters wander in and out of the story as if a sleep-deprived Scheherazade had forgotten to give them a purpose.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
As disturbing is what becomes of the narrator himself, who seems nearly comatose as he wanders the streets of Jerusalem in an endless search for the still-missing Gavriel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
As he poured the traditional cup of wine for the prophet, Rabbi Aft reminded his community that Elijah wanders the earth disguised as a stranger, testing humanity’s capacity for hospitality, compassion and kindness.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2026
At 100, Attenborough no longer wanders the world's jungles and deserts.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
It can stay still for hours, striking only when prey wanders too close.
From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026
And then I remember to put my brain back on the screen, where it wanders away again, this time to Dad.
From "Liar & Spy" by Rebecca Stead
But in the three hacks the company eventually discovered, Claude didn’t break out of a sandbox; it simply wandered out of systems where the sandbox didn’t exist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
The discovery began with an exceptionally bright flare produced when a star wandered too close to a massive black hole and was ripped apart by its intense gravity.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
The three wandered downtown Culver City, seemingly unsure of where to go.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 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
Instead of going into the fairy-tale section of the library hoping to find a copy of his book, he wandered to the science section.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Only three months later, it identified the event that led them to the wandering black hole.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026
Hours before President Trump is scheduled to headline a Tuesday evening fundraiser at his Palos Verdes golf course, authorities announced they had arrested an armed individual seen wandering the grounds Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
On my recent rereading of “The Secret Garden,” I was delighted by the moment when Mary, initially pale and peevish and uninterested in her breakfast, begins wandering the grounds with a jump rope in hand.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
The reports range from brazen burglaries to visitors nervous about a bear wandering by.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
“So I can’t walk around looking like a monster. Part of my job is to make wandering souls comfortable.”
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.
