Library / English Dictionary

WANDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking

Example:

Don't digress when you give a lecture

Synonyms:

digress; divagate; stray; wander

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "wander" is one way to...):

tell (let something be known)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

Example:

They rolled from town to town

Synonyms:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "wander" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

drift; err; stray (wander from a direct course or at random)

wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wander"):

maunder (wander aimlessly)

gad; gallivant; jazz around (wander aimlessly in search of pleasure)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

They wander the countryside

They wander in the countryside

Derivation:

wanderer (someone who leads a wandering unsettled life)

wandering (travelling about without any clear destination)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course

Example:

sometimes, the gout wanders through the entire body

Synonyms:

meander; thread; wander; weave; wind

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "wander" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

wander (go via an indirect route or at no set pace)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wander"):

snake (move along a winding path)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Go via an indirect route or at no set pace

Example:

After dinner, we wandered into town

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "wander" is one way to...):

continue; go forward; proceed (move ahead; travel onward in time or space)

Verb group:

cast; drift; ramble; range; roam; roll; rove; stray; swan; tramp; vagabond; wander (move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment)

meander; thread; wander; weave; wind (to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage

Example:

Might her husband be wandering?

Synonyms:

betray; cheat; cheat on; cuckold; wander

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "wander" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wander"):

two-time (carry on a romantic relationship with two people at the same time)

fool around; play around (commit adultery)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

"People tend to think of mind wandering as something that is bad. You try to pay attention and you can't," said Schumacher.

(Daydreaming Is Good: It Means You're Smart, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

She had only to say in reply, that they had wandered about, till she was beyond her own knowledge.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The first incident in it was not such as to give me a very favorable opinion of the place to which we had wandered.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne delivered his message, and then wandered forth from the camp, for his mind was all in a whirl with this unexpected news, and with his talk with Sir Nigel.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thy people took us in by their fires and made us warm, nor asked whence or why we wandered.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He was tired of wandering about alone, and Amy's familiar presence seemed to give a homelike charm to the foreign scenes in which she bore a part.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He wandered through the village, recognising with staid satisfaction the various gods he had known before the long journey.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Quincey Morris tightened his belt with that quick movement which I knew so well; in our old wandering days it meant "action."

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He ceased speaking, and his gaze wandered absently past her and became lost in the placid sea.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The telegram still remains the only solid thing with which we have to deal, and we must not permit our attention to wander away from it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)