Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
  • intransitive verb To go by an indirect route or at no set pace; amble.
  • intransitive verb To proceed in an irregular course; meander.
  • intransitive verb To behave in a manner that does not conform to morality or norms.
  • intransitive verb To turn the attention from one subject to another with little clarity or coherence of thought.
  • intransitive verb To be directed without an object or in various directions.
  • intransitive verb To wander across or through.
  • intransitive verb To be directed around or over.
  • noun The act or an instance of wandering.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through.
  • intransitive verb To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove.
  • intransitive verb To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray.
  • intransitive verb To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To move without purpose; often in search of livelihood.
  • verb intransitive To stray; stray from one's course; err.
  • verb intransitive To commit adultery.
  • verb intransitive To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
  • verb intransitive Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
  • noun The act or instance of wandering.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
  • verb move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
  • verb lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
  • verb be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
  • verb go via an indirect route or at no set pace

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English wanderen, from Old English wandrian.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wandren, wandrien, from Old English wandrian ("to wander, roam, fly around, hover; change; stray, err"), from Proto-Germanic *wandrōnan (“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, migrate"), Swedish vandra ("to wander, hike").

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Examples

Comments

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  • This will be the name of my first child.

    March 25, 2008

  • "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

    March 25, 2008

  • maybe all that futzing will pay off!

    March 25, 2008

  • Have you seen that movie, A Fish Called Wander?

    March 25, 2008

  • 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

    December 21, 2008

  • Heehee!

    December 22, 2008

  • "...Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it

    Prone to leave the God I love..."

    January 10, 2018