wander
Americanverb (used without object)
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to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray.
to wander over the earth.
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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.
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(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.
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(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)
noun
verb
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(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
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(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
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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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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:
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
He hid food and other dangerous items from her and stayed vigilant to ensure she wouldn’t wander off.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
The Woods said bears are known to wander into people’s backyards, often drawn by gardens and ponds, but that they typically flee at the sight of humans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
They would wander in the endless night until they died, and the Mountain would be their tomb.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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
“Spirited Away” is a story of a girl, Chihiro, who wanders with her parents into a magical realm and ends up getting stuck there when her mother and father transform into pigs.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 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
On its way to the Mississippi, the combined river then wanders, quite conveniently, within two hundred yards of the central plaza.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
Djokovic probably could have wandered into Taylor Swift’s basketball court wedding and nobody would have flinched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
But when the kick-off was delayed from 01:00 to 02:00, Merry said her husband wandered off for a nap.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 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
“Can’t be worse than the last time,” Jack said to her as his grandfather wandered off toward the village’s inn.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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 key science question we want to answer is: How common are wandering black holes?"
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
By Ma Rainey’s own testimony, she’d picked up on and incorporated into her compositions blues lines she’d heard used by wandering folk musicians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Before long the dining room had red leather booths, a seaside mural on the wall, a bar in back and sometimes a wandering accordion player.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
And the mine shaft into which she had fallen trying to save a wandering calf had been closed in long ago.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
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.
