stray
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
strayIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstɹeɪ
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
Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.
An animal that has strayed (especially a domestic animal)
An act of wandering off or going astray.
A person who is lost, either literally or figuratively.
A bullet that, after being fired from a gun, hits an unintended target.
verb
Wander from a direct course or at random
“The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her.”
Lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
intransitive
To wander from company or outside proper limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray.
intransitive
To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.
transitive
To cause to stray; lead astray.
adjective
In the wrong place; misplaced.
Having gone astray; strayed; wandering
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.
Used this way, stray is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in business or professional contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Business/professional
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use stray
- “The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her.”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.
Someone who strays or falls behind.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.