WANDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wander mean? 

• WANDER (verb)
  The verb WANDER has 5 senses:

1. move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment

2. be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage

3. go via an indirect route or at no set pace

4. to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course

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

  Familiarity information: WANDER used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WANDER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they wander    ... he / she / it wanders   
Past simple: wandered   
Past participle: wandered   
-ing form: wandering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

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

Context example:

They rolled from town to town

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 2

Meaning:

Be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

betray; cheat; cheat on; cuckold; wander

Context example:

Might her husband be wandering?

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Go via an indirect route or at no set pace

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

After dinner, we wandered into town

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 4

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

meander; thread; wander; weave; wind

Context example:

sometimes, the gout wanders through the entire body

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 5

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

digress; divagate; stray; wander

Context example:

Don't digress when you give a lecture

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

tell (let something be known)

Sentence frames:

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

 Context examples 

Besides, some months have elapsed since the commission of his crimes, and no one can conjecture to what place he has wandered or what region he may now inhabit.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But where am I wandering to?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The house seemed to be at his mercy, and he wandered about and did what he chose in it.

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

Then poor Snowdrop wandered along through the wood in great fear; and the wild beasts roared about her, but none did her any harm.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

When I got theer, I wandered on as I had done afore.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was no need for him to wander through his mind.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His eye wandered, and had no meaning in its wandering: this gave him an odd look, such as I never remembered to have seen.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But with all that, he minded people less and seemed shut up in his own thoughts and rather wandering.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point.

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

Again he wandered about through the great camp, looking for them, and again he returned.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)