Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
- v. To go by an indirect route or at no set pace; amble: wander toward town.
- v. To proceed in an irregular course; meander.
- v. To go astray: wander from the path of righteousness.
- v. To lose clarity or coherence of thought or expression.
- v. To wander across or through: wander the forests and fields.
- n. The act or an instance of wandering; a stroll.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- In physical chemistry, to move hither and thither in every direction: said of the molecules of a liquid or of the molecules of two miscible liquids in contact with each other.
- To ramble with out, or as if without, any certain course or object in view; travel or move from place to place; range about; roam; rove; stroll; stray.
- To leave home or a settled place of abode; depart; migrate.
- To depart from any settled course; go astray, as from the paths of duty; stray; de viate; err.
- To lose one's way; be lost.
- To think or speak incoherently; rave; be de lirious.
- Synonyms 1-3. Roam, Rove, etc. (see ramble), straggle.
- Swerve, digress.
- To travel over without a cer tain course; stroll through; traverse.
- To lead astray; cause to lose the way or become lost.
Wiktionary
- n. The act or instance of wandering.
- v. To move without purpose; often in search of livelihood.
- v. To commit adultery.
- v. To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
- v. Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove.
- v. To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray.
- v. To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave.
- v. To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through.
WordNet 3.0
- v. to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
- v. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- v. lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
- v. be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
- v. go via an indirect route or at no set pace
Etymologies
- Middle English wanderen, from Old English wandrian.
Examples
“The goal is to win converts, that is people who will wander from the literary fiction aisle of B&N to the Fantasy & Sci-Fi section.”
MIND MELD: The Perfect SF/F/H Books to Give to People Who Don't Read SF/F/H
“Letting my mind wander is usually when I have the best ideas.”
How to Squeeze Writing Inspiration from Every Experience | Write to Done
“Not even a coach likely destined for the Hall of Fame, Bill Parcells, could help the Cowboys wander from the playoff desert in four seasons as head coach, losing twice.”
Drought is over: Cowboys beat Eagles; 1st playoff win since '96
“And then there's always that old Communion hymn with the line, "We pray for those who wander from the fold/O bring them back, Good Shepherd of the sheep/Back to the Faith which saints believed of old,/Back to the Church, which still that Faith doth keep.”
“I feared to wander from the sight of my fellow-creatures, lest when alone he should come to claim his companion.”
“He let his gaze wander from the ordered stacks of papers on his desk to the expanse of woodland visible through the loft window.”
365 tomorrows » 2008 » February : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Are we to wander is some strange wilderness, aimlessly without direction.”
“But the only place my eyes can wander is to the nylon displays a few yards away.”
“It is particularly disconcerting for me today, because I know so many of the people in the room, and that arouses the most unspeakerly temptation to let my mind wander from the text, trying to decide which half of the audience is which.”
“It was as if an unwritten law of American journalism had evolved, stating that the greater the institutional platform, and the more power it has to influence public opinion, the more carefully it must be used and the less it must wander from the accepted norms of American society.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wander’.
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grade 3
ability, absorb, act, tive, actual, adopt, advantage, ambition, ancient, arrange, arctic, attitude and 125 more...
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movement (slow)
words describing slow action or movement
( randomness, descriptive )creep, crawl, plod, slouch, idle, lumber, tiptoe, bend, amble, mosey, saunter, loiter and 117 more...
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Banned verbs for the Christmas shopping season
In the interests of purposefulness…
wander, stroll, meander, drift, amble, roam, swarm, straggle, mill, ramble, stray, hover and 2 more...

reesetee Heehee! Dec 22, 2008
frindley I wonder as I wander out into the mall
What I shall buy Jenny and Brian and all
Something unique, yes, but something that's small
I wonder as I wander out into the mall
I really should've done this a full month ago
It's so hard to shop when we're moving so slow
And where's the inspiration I just do not know
I really should've done this a full month ago
A Shopping Carol, with apologies to John Jacob Niles
Dec 21, 2008
yarb Have you seen that movie, A Fish Called Wander? Mar 25, 2008
bmevans maybe all that futzing will pay off! Mar 25, 2008
factoryjoe "To move among one's resources, being receptive to alternative sources and new search ideas triggered by the materials that come into view. In our field … one may hypothesis that to WANDER promotes serendipity and enables useful sources that would not otherwise be discovered."
-Bates, 1979a Mar 25, 2008
factoryjoe This will be the name of my first child. Mar 25, 2008