drift
noun · verb
Simple meaning
To move slowly without direction, carried by air or water.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
driftIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɹɪft
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
physical
Movement; that which moves or is moved.
A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., especially by wind or water.
Anything driven at random.
The distance through which a current flows in a given time.
cricket
A sideways movement of the ball through the air, when bowled by a spin bowler.
A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the retreat of continental glaciers, such as that which buries former river valleys and creates young river valleys.
verb
intransitive
To move slowly, especially pushed by currents of water, air, etc.
Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
intransitive
To deviate gently from the intended direction of travel.
transitive
To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body.
transitive
To drive into heaps.
Be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of wind or a current
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (physical) Movement; that which moves or is moved.
Used this way, drift is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use drift
- “My son drifted around for years in California before going to law school.”verb
- “The unknown young man drifted among the invited guests.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Aimless wandering from place to place.
A wanderer who has no established residence or visible means of support.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A large fishnet supported by floats.
Change from a waking to a sleeping state.
Lose personal contact over time.
Masses of ice floating in the open sea.
Lose personal contact over time.
The gradual movement and formation of continents (as described by plate tectonics).
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.