Adjacent Words

Wander definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WANDER, v.i. [G., to wander, to walk, to change, exchange or transform.]
1. To rove; to ramble here and there without any certain course or object in view; as, to wander over the fields; to wander about the town, or about the country. Men may sometimes wander for amusement or exercise. Persons sometimes wander because they have no home and are wretched, and sometimes because they have no occupation.
They wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins. Hebrews 11.
He wandereth abroad for bread. Job 15.
He was wandering in the field. Genesis 37.
2. To leave home; to depart; to migrate.
When God caused me to wander from my fathers house-- Genesis 20.
3. To depart from the subject in discussion; as, to wander from the point.
4. In a moral sense, to stray; to deviate; to depart from duty or rectitude.
O let me not wander from they commandments. Psalms 119.
5. To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; as, the mind wanders.
WANDER, v.t. To travel over without a certain course.
Wandring many a famous realm. [Elliptical.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment; "The gypsies roamed the woods"; "roving vagabonds"; "the wandering Jew"; "The cattle roam across the prairie"; "the laborers drift from one town to the next"; "They rolled from town to town" [syn: roll, wander, swan, stray, tramp, roam, cast, ramble, rove, range, drift, vagabond]
2: be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage; "She cheats on her husband"; "Might her husband be wandering?" [syn: cheat on, cheat, cuckold, betray, wander]
3: go via an indirect route or at no set pace; "After dinner, we wandered into town"
4: to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course; "the river winds through the hills"; "the path meanders through the vineyards"; "sometimes, the gout wanders through the entire body" [syn: weave, wind, thread, meander, wander]
5: lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking; "She always digresses when telling a story"; "her mind wanders"; "Don't digress when you give a lecture" [syn: digress, stray, divagate, wander]

Merriam Webster's

verb (wandered; wandering) Etymology: Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian; akin to Middle High German wandern to wander, Old English windan to wind, twist Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1. a. to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal b. to go idly about ; ramble <wandering around the house> 2. to follow a winding course ; meander 3. a. to go astray (as from a course) ; stray <wandered away from the group> b. to go astray morally ; err c. to lose normal mental contact ; stray in thought <his mind wandered> transitive verb to roam over <wandered the halls> • wander noun • wanderer noun Synonyms: wander, roam, ramble, rove, traipse, meander mean to go about from place to place usually without a plan or definite purpose. wander implies an absence of or an indifference to a fixed course <fond of wandering about the square just watching the people>. roam suggests wandering about freely and often far afield <liked to roam through the woods>. ramble stresses carelessness and indifference to one's course or objective <the speaker rambled on without ever coming to the point>. rove suggests vigorous and sometimes purposeful roaming <armed brigands roved over the countryside>. traipse implies a course that is erratic but may sometimes be purposeful <traipsed all over town looking for the right dress>. meander implies a winding or intricate course suggestive of aimless or listless wandering <the river meanders for miles through rich farmland>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. (often foll. by in, off, etc.) go about from place to place aimlessly. 2 intr. a (of a person, river, road, etc.) wind about; diverge; meander. b (of esp. a person) get lost; leave home; stray from a path etc. 3 intr. talk or think incoherently; be inattentive or delirious. 4 tr. cover while wandering (wanders the world). --n. the act or an instance of wandering (went for a wander round the garden). Phrases and idioms: wandering Jew 1 a a legendary person said to have been condemned by Christ to wander the earth until the second advent. b a person who never settles down. 2 a a climbing plant, Tradescantia albiflora, with stemless variegated leaves. b a trailing plant, Zebrina pendula, with pink flowers. wandering sailor the moneywort. wander-plug a plug that can be fitted into any of various sockets in an electrical device. Derivatives: wanderer n. wandering n. (esp. in pl.). Etymology: OE wandrian (as WEND)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wander Wan"der, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wandered; p. pr. & vb. n. Wandering.] [OE. wandren, wandrien, AS. wandrian; akin to G. wandern to wander; fr. AS. windan to turn. See Wind to turn.] 1. To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove; as, to wander over the fields. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins. --Heb. xi. 37. He wandereth abroad for bread. --Job xv. 23. 2. To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray; as, a writer wanders from his subject. When God caused me to wander from my father's house. --Gen. xx. 13. O, let me not wander from thy commandments. --Ps. cxix. 10. 3. To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave; as, the mind wanders. Syn: To roam; rove; range; stroll; gad; stray; straggly; err; swerve; deviate; depart.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wander Wan"der, v. t. To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through. [R.] ``[Elijah] wandered this barren waste.'' --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wanders, wandering, wandered) 1. If you wander in a place, you walk around there in a casual way, often without intending to go in any particular direction. They wandered off in the direction of the nearest store... Those who do not have relatives to return to are left to wander the streets and sleep rough. VERB: V prep/adv, V n • Wander is also a noun. A wander around any market will reveal stalls piled high with vegetables. = stroll N-SING: a N 2. If a person or animal wanders from a place where they are supposed to stay, they move away from the place without going in a particular direction. Because Mother is afraid we'll get lost, we aren't allowed to wander far... To keep their bees from wandering, beekeepers feed them sugar solutions. = stray VERB: V adv/prep, V 3. If your mind wanders or your thoughts wander, you stop concentrating on something and start thinking about other things. His mind would wander, and he would lose track of what he was doing... = stray VERB: V 4. If your eyes wander, you stop looking at one thing and start looking around at other things. His eyes wandered restlessly around the room... VERB: V prep/adv

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Ramble, roam, rove, stroll, range, range about, gad about, straggle. 2. Deviate, swerve, stray, digress, turn aside, go astray, straggle. 3. Be delirious, be crazed, rave, ramble.

Moby Thesaurus

amble, babble, bat, bat around, be absent, be in error, be insane, be mistaken, be wrong, boom, bum, circumambulate, count ties, daydream, depart, deviate, digress, divagate, diverge, dote, dream, drift, drivel, drool, err, excurse, fall into error, fantasy, flit, gad, gad about, gallivant, get sidetracked, go about, go adrift, go amiss, go astray, go awry, go the rounds, go woolgathering, go wrong, have a demon, hit the road, hit the trail, hobo, jaunt, knock about, knock around, lapse, maunder, meander, misbelieve, miscalculate, mooch, moon, muse, nomadize, peregrinate, pererrate, pipe-dream, project, prowl, rage, ramble, range, rant, rave, roam, roll, rove, run about, run amok, run mad, saunter, serve Mammon, slaver, slip, slip up, slobber, snake, stargaze, straggle, stray, stroll, stumble, trail, traipse, tramp, trip, turn aside, twist, twist and turn, vagabond, vagabondize, walk the tracks, wayfare, wind