wandering by meaning

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Definition of wander verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• + adv./prep. She wandered aimlessly around the streets.
• We wandered back towards the car.
• wander something The child was found wandering the streets alone.
• Don't go wandering all over the house!
• He just wandered in one day and asked for a job.
• He wandered into a bar and ordered a drink.
• One day she wandered further afield.
• Simply wandering is a pleasure in itself.
• The cattle are allowed to wander freely.
• They found him wandering around aimlessly.
• Visitors are free to wander through the gardens and woods.
• Cattle and sheep wander freely on the hilltops.
• During the day I would wander the streets, asking passers-by for a few cents.
• He was found wandering in the road late one night.
• She had spent her life wandering from place to place.
• They spent a couple of hours wandering through the markets.
• disconsolately
• allow somebody/​something to
• let somebody/​something
• find somebody wandering

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Definition of 'wander'

Video: pronunciation of wander

wander in British English

Wander in american english, examples of 'wander' in a sentence wander, trends of wander.

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• wand reader
• wander aimlessly
• wander alone
• wander an aisle
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'W'

Related terms of wander

• eyes wander
• wander plug
• polar wander
• View more related words

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Meaning of wandering in English

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wander verb ( MOVE AROUND )

• walk The baby has just learned to walk.
• stride She strode purposefully up to the desk and demanded to speak to the manager.
• march He marched right in to the office and demanded to see the governor.
• stroll We strolled along the beach.
• wander She wandered from room to room, not sure of what she was looking for.
• amble She ambled down the street, looking in shop windows.
• crawl There'd been a bad accident on the motorway and traffic was crawling.
• trundle Lorries trundle through the narrow lanes.
• creep He crept downstairs, hardly making any noise.
• trudge They trudged wearily through the snow.
• stroll We spent the afternoon strolling around Budapest.
• amble He ambled over to the window.
• Don't worry if you lose hold of the reins - the horse won't wander off.
• He wandered around, clearing up in a desultory way.
• We wandered along the shore , stepping over the flotsam that had washed up in the night .
• We wandered through the beautifully proportioned rooms of the Winter Palace.
• She was wandering around in a daze this morning .
• His eyes wandered over the posters adorning the walls .
• dumbwalking

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

wander verb ( SUBJECT )

• bury the lede idiom
• candy coating
• candy-coated
• circumlocution
• circumlocutory
• gloss over something
• go off on a tangent idiom
• mealy-mouthed
• prevaricate
• unexpressed

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relating to the scientific study of animals, especially their structure

Dead ringers and peas in pods (Talking about similarities, Part 2)

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• wander (SUBJECT)
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wan•der

• bird of passage
• Diomedea exulans
• Wamble-cropped
• Wanamaker John
• Wanchüan
• Wand of peace
• Wanda Landowska
• wander about or around
• wander back
• wander plug
• wandering albatross
• Wandering cell
• Wandering Jew
• Wandering kidney
• Wandering liver
• Wandering mouse
• wandering nerve
• Wandering spider
• wanderingly
• wand wavers
• wand-wavers
• Wanda Cuff Young, Inc.
• Wanda Jakubowska
• Wanda Louise Landowska
• Wanda Wizowski-MacPherson
• Wandafuru raifu
• Wandâfuru raifu
• Wandelclub Al Kontent
• Wandell & Goltermann, Inc.
• wander about
• wander around
• wander away
• wander away (from someone or something)
• wander away from
• wander away from her
• wander away from him
• wander away from it
• wander away from me
• wander away from one
• wander away from somebody
• wander away from someone
• wander away from something
• wander away from them
• wander away from us
• wander away from you
• wander correction
• wander from
• wander from (someone or something)
• wander from her
• wander from him
• wander from it
• wander from me
• wander from one
• wander from somebody
• wander from someone
• wander from something
• wander from them
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Synonyms of wandering

• as in rambling
• as in nomadic
• as in roaming
• as in trespassing
• More from M-W
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Thesaurus Definition of wandering

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• digressionary
• digressional

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• straightforward
• undeviating
• peripatetic
• galavanting
• on the move
• gallivanting
• perambulatory

Thesaurus Definition of wandering  (Entry 2 of 2)

• knocking (about)
• gadding (about)
• kicking around
• vagabonding
• milling (about or around)
• trespassing
• transgressing
• breaking the law
• falling from grace
• backsliding

Thesaurus Entries Near wandering

wandering (into)

Cite this Entry

“Wandering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wandering. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on wandering

Nglish: Translation of wandering for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of wandering for Arabic Speakers

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adjective as in meandering

Strongest matches

Strong matches

adjective as in nomadic

Strongest match

adjective as in itinerant

Weak matches

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Example sentences.

Later, information emerged that this sea lion is known for its wanderings.

This is counter-intuitive because spontaneous fluctuations and mind-wandering can also lead to depressive rumination and anxiety.

Similar to playing and dreaming is the wandering of our minds.

When psychologists do that, they find that mind-wandering is staggeringly frequent.

Mind-wandering is often considered a harmless quirk, as in the cliché of the scatter-brained professor.

Mr. Bachner found it by wandering through the market and identified a craftsmen here who works in a tiny booth.

And, in a gratuitous show of homicidal prowess, Moses kills two assassins he meets while wandering in the desert of Sinai.

After wandering at haphazard some little way I met a peasant in a sleigh.

He showed signs of a restless, wandering soul, someone searching for meaning around him.

I spotted American students wandering around London last week dressed in Stars and Stripes shorts and bikini tops.

She observed his pale looks, and the distracted wandering of his eyes; but she would not notice either.

This mode of learning promotes attention and prevents mind-wandering.

He paled a little, and sucked his lip, his eyes wandering to the girl, who stood in stolid inapprehension of what was being said.

John and Judas became the good and evil Wandering Jews of mediæval folklore.

He was relieved to learn that his grandson Moses Mole was not wandering about the garden, after all.

Related Words

Words related to wandering are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word wandering . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in different from that expected

• irregularity

adjective as in having no goal

• any which way
• bits and pieces
• directionless
• fits and starts
• hit-or-miss
• indiscriminate
• purposeless
• thoughtless
• unpredictable

adjective, adverb as in off the path or right direction

• off the mark

adjective as in having disordered thoughts and delusions

• flipped-out
• hallucinatory
• lightheaded
• off one's head
• out of one's head
• out of one's skull
• unreasonable

noun as in deviation from normal, expected

• branching off
• branching out
• declination
• latest thing
• new wrinkle

Viewing 5 / 60 related words

On this page you'll find 93 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to wandering, such as: roving, winding, jaunting, roaming, strolling, and traveling.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Money Report

Jeff Bezos isn't a fan of ‘time blocking'—here's what he does instead to boost his productivity

By ashton jackson,cnbc • published april 24, 2024 • updated on april 24, 2024 at 2:53 pm.

Jeff Bezos doesn't jam-pack his schedule or set strict time blocks for all his meetings.

Instead, the 60-year-old Amazon and Blue Origin founder — currently the second-richest person in the world, according to Forbes — gives himself and his teams ample time for creative thinking, he told the "Lex Fridman Podcast."

"I don't keep to a strict schedule," Bezos said, in an episode first released in December 2023. "My meetings often go longer than I plan for them to, because I believe in [mind] wandering."

For example, Bezos makes time during meetings for people to bounce ideas off each other, no matter how small or spontaneous, he said — a process he called a "messy meeting." Those sessions usually don't have a set end time, he added.

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"When I sit down [in] a meeting, I don't know how long the meeting is going to take if we're trying to solve a problem," Bezos said. "The reality is we may have to wander for a long time ... I think there's certainly nothing more fun than sitting at a whiteboard with a group of smart people and spit-balling and coming up with new ideas and objections to those ideas, and then solutions to the objections and going back and forth."

He added that "a lot of people feel like wandering is inefficient," but studies show that a divergent mind can actually boost a person's productivity, creativity and happiness.

Cramer praises companies like Chipotle that can grow despite a slowing economy and inflation

S&P 500 futures pop in overnight trading, boosted by Alphabet and Microsoft: Live updates

Mind wandering vs. time blocking.

Some productivity experts swear by the time blocking method, which involves blocking out specific amounts of time on your calendar for every task you need to accomplish each day — sometimes even including meal breaks and coffee chats.

But the strategy can leave you feeling stressed and burned out , Yale University psychology professor  Laurie Santos told attendees at SXSW in March. Meanwhile, a 2016 study of more than 200 college students found that their creativity significantly improved when allowing their minds to wander.

If you're the kind of person who gets overwhelmed by a packed schedule, carving out time to allow your mind to wander could help you come up with ideas you might not have considered on a more structured schedule — provided you do it effectively rather than simply zoning out, psychologist Jill Suttie wrote for the University of California Berkeley's "Greater Good" magazine in 2018.

When a problem arises in the workplace or at school, take some time that's free from distractions — like your phone or a string of unread emails — and try to come up with an array of solutions, both big and small, then bounce them off of your colleagues to round them out, Suttie wrote. It may sound counterintuitive, but taking a break from your work routine to let your mind wander can sometimes be the most effective way to solve a problem that's otherwise left you feeling stuck.

"Under the right circumstances, a wandering mind may actually benefit us and possibly those around us," Suttie wrote. "The trick is to know when to set your mind free."

Bezos' approach to mind wandering

Bezos lets his mind wander to consider the pros and cons of his own ideas. Once they've survived his own "first level of scrutiny," he presents them to others for a productive group brainstorm to help the idea take shape.

For Bezos, that initial "intuition" is a jumping-off point that can lead to more exploration with other people. The results can be both "fun" and productive, as you work together to take a potential creative solution and figure out how to make it work in reality, he said.

"I will often say, 'Look, it is going to be really easy for you to find objections to this idea, but work with me...'" Bezos told Fridman. "Because it's really easy to kill new ideas in the beginning. So, you need to forewarn people and say, 'I know it's going to take a lot of work to get this to a fully formed idea. Let's get started on that. It'll be fun.'"

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