wander
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To walk around slowly with no set destination.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wahnderSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɑndɚ
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.
verb
Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
intransitive
To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.
intransitive
Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.
Lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
intransitive
To stray; stray from one's course; err.
intransitive
To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.
noun
countable
An act or instance of 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: Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
Used this way, wander 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
- No strong connotation
- 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 wander
- “After dinner, we wandered into town.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A rod used by a magician or water diviner.
Travelling about without any clear destination.
Someone who leads a wandering unsettled life.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Very large albatross.
A legendary Jew condemned to roam the world for mocking Jesus at the Crucifixion.
A mixed nerve that supplies the pharynx and larynx and lungs and heart and esophagus and stomach and most of the abdominal viscera.
Small Australian bird related to the button quail.
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.