wandering

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Related to wandering: wondering

wan·der

(wŏn′dər)

v. wan·dered, wan·der·ing, wan·ders

v.intr.

1. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.

2. To go by an indirect route or at no set pace; amble: We wandered toward town.

3. To proceed in an irregular course; meander: The path wanders through the park.

4. To behave in a manner that does not conform to morality or norms: wander from the path of righteousness.

5. To turn the attention from one subject to another with little clarity or coherence of thought: I had a point to make, but my mind started wandering.

6. To be directed without an object or in various directions: His eyes wandered to the balcony.

v.tr.

1. To wander across or through: wander the forests and fields.

2. To be directed around or over: Her gaze wandered the docks.

The act or an instance of wandering.

[Middle English wanderen, from Old English wandrian.]

wan′der·er n.

wan′der·ing·ly adv.

Synonyms: wander, ramble, roam, rove¹, range, meander, stray, gallivant, gad¹
These verbs mean to move about at random or without destination or purpose. Wander and ramble stress the absence of a fixed course or goal: The professor wandered down the hall lost in thought. "They would go off together, rambling along the river" (John Galsworthy).
Roam and rove emphasize freedom of movement, often over a wide area: "Herds of horses and cattle roamed at will over the plain" (George W. Cable)."For ten long years I roved about, living first in one capital, then another" (Charlotte Brontë).
Range suggests wandering in all directions: "a large hunting party known to be ranging the prairie" (Francis Parkman).
Meander suggests leisurely wandering over an irregular or winding course: "He meandered to and fro ... observing the manners and customs of Hillport society" (Arnold Bennett).
Stray refers to deviation from a proper course or area: "The camels strayed to graze on the branches of distant acacias" (Jeffrey Tayler).
Gallivant refers to wandering in search of pleasure: gallivanted all over the city during our visit. Gad suggests restlessness: gadded about unaccompanied in foreign places.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wan•der•ing

(ˈwɒn dər ɪŋ)

adj.

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

2. having no permanent residence; nomadic.

3. meandering; winding: a wandering river.

4. an aimless roving about; leisurely traveling from place to place: a summer of delightful wandering through Italy.

5. Usu., wanderings.

a. aimless travels; meanderings.

b. disordered thoughts or utterances; incoherencies

[before 1000]

wan′der•ing•ly, adv.

wandering

evagation - Means mental wandering or digression, also a digression in speech or writing.
mundivagant - Means "wandering around the world."
vagation - The action of wandering, straying, or departing from the proper or regular course.
wanderjahr - Literally German for "wander year," it refers to a year of wandering or travel.

Wandering

of tinkers—Lipton.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	wandering - travelling about without any clear destination; "she followed him in his wanderings and looked after him" roving, vagabondage travel, traveling, travelling - the act of going from one place to another; "he enjoyed selling but he hated the travel" drifting - aimless wandering from place to place
Adj.	1.	wandering - migratory; "a restless mobile society"; "the nomadic habits of the Bedouins"; "believed the profession of a peregrine typist would have a happy future"; "wandering tribes" mobile, nomadic, peregrine, roving unsettled - not settled or established; "an unsettled lifestyle"
	2.	wandering - of a path e.g.; "meandering streams"; "rambling forest paths"; "the river followed its wandering course"; "a winding country road" meandering, winding, rambling indirect - not direct in spatial dimension; not leading by a straight line or course to a destination; "sometimes taking an indirect path saves time"; "you must take an indirect course in sailing"
	3.	wandering - having no fixed course; "an erratic comet"; "his life followed a wandering course"; "a planetary vagabond" erratic, planetary unsettled - not settled or established; "an unsettled lifestyle"

wandering

adjective itinerant, travelling, journeying, roving, drifting, homeless, strolling, voyaging, unsettled, roaming, rambling, nomadic, migratory, vagrant, peripatetic, vagabond, rootless, wayfaring a band of wandering musicians

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

wandering

adjective

1. Traveling about, especially in search of adventure:

errant, roaming, roving.

2. Without a fixed or regular course:

devious, erratic, stray.

Translations

errant

ambulante vagabondaggio vagante

скитание

wandering

[ˈwɒndərɪŋ] ADJ [person] → errante; [tribe] → nómada, errante; [minstrel] → itinerante; [path, river] → sinuoso; [eyes, mind] → distraído
he suffers from wandering hands (hum) → es un sobón

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

wandering

[ˈwɒndərɪŋ] adj

[tribe] → nomade

[minstrel, actor] → ambulant(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

wandering

adj tribesman, refugees → umherziehend; minstrel → fahrend; thoughts → (ab)schweifend; gaze → schweifend; path → gewunden; the old man’s wandering mind → die wirren Gedanken des Alten; to have wandering hands (hum) → seine Finger nicht bei sich (dat) → behalten können; the Wandering Jew → der Ewige Jude

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

wandering

[ˈwɒnd/ərɪŋ]

1. adj (tribe) → nomade; (minstrel, actor) → girovago/a; (path, river) → tortuoso/a; (mind) → distratto/a

2. wanderings npl → peregrinazioni fpl, vagabondaggi mpl

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

wan·der·ing

a. errante, errático-a; desviado-a;

___ cell → célula;

___ goiter → bocio móvil;

___ pain → dolor ___;

___ tooth → diente desviado.

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References in classic literature ?

At last, worn out with sorrow and fatigue, she fell asleep and dreamt that she was wandering along a flowery meadow, when she came to a hut where she found an old witch, who promised to restore her husband to her.

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-Black Hills.- Rocky Mountains.- Wandering and Predatory Hordes.

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And whatever may still overtake me as fate and experience--a wandering will be therein, and a mountain-climbing: in the end one experienceth only oneself.

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'To prevent my wandering away I don't know where--for I begin to be sensible that I have just come back, and that I shall lose myself again--do so, dear boy!'

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It seemed as if there was no one in all the huge rambling house but her own small self, wandering about upstairs and down, through narrow passages and wide ones, where it seemed to her that no one but herself had ever walked.

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One was Captain Stewart, of the British army, a gentleman of noble connections, who was amusing himself by a wandering tour in the Far West; in the course of which, he had lived in hunter's style; accompanying various bands of traders, trappers, and Indians; and manifesting that relish for the wilderness that belongs to men of game spirit.

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Wine that recalls the glow of spring, Upon the thatch a sudden shower, A gentle scholar in the bower, Where tall bamboos their shadows fling, White clouds in heavens newly clear, And wandering wings through depths of trees, Then pillowed in green shade, he sees A torrent foaming to the mere; Around his dreams the dead leaves fall; Calm as the starred chrysanthemum, He notes the season glories come, And reads the books that never pall.

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And so we came at last to another wonder, of deep and abiding interest-- the veritable house where the unhappy wretch once lived who has been celebrated in song and story for more than eighteen hundred years as the Wandering Jew.

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While Lily-Bell lay dreaming among the rose-leaves, Thistledown went wandering through the garden.

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But when sleep and rest had brought back the strength necessary for the keenness of mental suffering--when she lay the next morning looking at the growing light which was like a cruel task- master returning to urge from her a fresh round of hated hopeless labour--she began to think what course she must take, to remember that all her money was gone, to look at the prospect of further wandering among strangers with the new clearness shed on it by the experience of her journey to Windsor.

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Forth from the city, while it yet slumbered, went the two poor adventurers, wandering they knew not whither.

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"From dewy dawn to dewy night, And have one with you wandering,"

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