wander
See also: Wander
English
Etymology
From Middle English wandren, wandrien, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-Germanic *wandrōną (“to wander”), from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind”), equivalent to wend + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwɑndɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɒndə/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒndə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: wan‧der
Verb
wander (third-person singular simple present wanders, present participle wandering, simple past and past participle wandered)
- (intransitive) To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
- to wander over the fields
- Bible, Hebrews xi.37:
- They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.
- 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
- 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:
- There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
- (intransitive) To stray; stray from one's course; err.
- A writer wanders from his subject.
- (intransitive) To commit adultery.
- (intransitive) To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
- (intransitive) Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
Conjugation
Conjugation of wander
infinitive | (to) wander | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
present tense | past tense | |||
1st person singular | wander | wandered | ||
2nd person singular | wander, wanderest* | |||
3rd person singular | wanders, wandereth* | |||
plural | wander | |||
subjunctive | wander | |||
imperative | wander | — | ||
participles | wandering | wandered | ||
* Archaic or obsolete. |
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to move without purpose or destination
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to stray from one's course
to commit adultery
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to go somewhere indirectly
of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Hyponyms
Translations
act or instance of wandering
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