wander

Meaning

Verb

1. To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
2. To stray; stray from one's course; err.
3. To commit adultery.
4. To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
5. Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.

Noun

1. An act or instance of wandering.
2. Deviation from a correct or normal value.

Synonyms

roam

rove

stray

ramble

drift

stroll

loiter

travel

walk

🚶

tramp

meander

gad

range

move around

swan

🦢

walk about

saunter

live

survive

float

hang around

tour

journey

digress

go about

vagabond

prowl

wander about

go

divagate

roam about

cheat

walk around

wind

cuckold

move about

betray

nomadic

homeless

cast

hike

amble

diverge

weave

cheat on

gallivant

peregrinate

deflect

bum

dilly-dally

promenade

waft

voyage

vagrant

rave

err

knock about

travel with hazard

roll

go for a walk

flow

trek

fool around

traipse

mosey

thread

🧵

be dilatory

roam aimlessly

wander about aimlessly

be busy running

be nomadic

follow the wind

have no permanent home

make a trip

roam around

rove around

walk all around

dirft

go constantly

roam over

become vagrant

target scintillation

target glint

aberrant

deviation dispersion

babble

backpack

🎒

bewilder

blunder

cruise

dawdle

deviate

dispersion

drivel

excursion

ferment

fly

✈️

frequent

gander

gibber

hang about

hang out

haunt

immigrate

inspect

itinerate

jaunt

laze

linger

loaf

look round

lose one’s way

migrate

mill

move

pack

perambulate

play around

potter

project

roaming

roundabout

run away

scintillation

shift

shifting

skim

spiral

straggle

swoop

stooge about

traverse

trip

turn around

wandering

wanderlust

be distracted

dart about

gad about

go astray

kick about

kick around

loiter about

sleep around

take a walk

travel about

walk across

make a pilgrimage

vagabondize

travelling

Hyphenated as

wan‧der

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈwɒndə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: wandren

Inherited from Old English: wandrian

Cognate with Scots: wander

Cognate with German: wandern

Cognate with Dutch: wandelen

Cognate with Danish: vandre

Cognate with Swedish: vandra

In summary

From Middle English wandren, wandrien, from Old English wandrian (“to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err”), from Proto-West Germanic *wandarōn (“to wander”), from *wandōn (“to turn, change”) + *-rōn (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Scots wander (“to wander”), German wandern (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Dutch wandelen (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Danish vandre (“to wander, roam, hike, migrate”), Swedish vandra (“to wander, hike”).