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rambling

[ram-bling]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

aimlessly wandering.

taking an irregular course; straggling: a rambling brook.

spread out irregularly in various directions: a rambling mansion.

straying from one subject to another; desultory: a rambling novel.

Origin:
1615–25; ramble + -ing²

Related forms

ram·bling·ly, adverb

ram·bling·ness, noun

un·ram·bling, adjective

Synonyms
4. discursive.

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Rambling is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Example Sentences

The more you improvise during a formal paper, the greater the dangers of rambling.

His commanding physical presence is reduced these days, his rhetoric more rambling than rousing.

Gypsy music when performed by true gypsies has a special quality that stems from the performers' easy, rambling way of life.

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The more you improvise during a formal paper, the greater the dangers of rambling.

His commanding physical presence is reduced these days, his rhetoric more rambling than rousing.

Gypsy music when performed by true gypsies has a special quality that stems from the performers' easy, rambling way of life.

It is a bewildering, rambling compilations of disjointed news-clippings taken completely out of context for maximum distortion.

It's not much in the way of buildings: a rambling shack, a few computers, posters of wading birds on the walls.

Its rambling sentences and mathematical equations leave the reader more irritated than fascinated.

He figured out that they were all the same thing and helped bring coherence to a rambling tale.

Foxx portrays a breathless and rambling schizophrenic.

But on the whole he has his ideas under control and keeps the rambling tale moving.

Vast grounds, including rock gardens and a rambling lawn.

He called me in the middle of the night rambling about his roommate stalking and wanting to harm him.

Rambling on about economic theory can be helpful, but do not let us forget the human element.

To me this writer attempts to sound reasonable but is rambling nonsense.

The proposal was delivered in a rambling and often defiant.

Just some rambling thoughts, but maybe you'll find these helpful.

Rambling over the ground or spilling from containers, nasturtiums are carefree creepers with a range of flower colors.

Prune deadwood from rambling and climbing roses after blooming.

But confused questions or rambling statements are different.

In a rambling television address, the president blamed foreign agitators for the troubles.

With a bit of inventiveness, a studio apartment can appear as grand as a drawing room in a rambling triplex.

Not only was it full of pointless complaining, it was also rambling and poorly structured.

Both were rambling comic suites consisting of episodes loosely related to some overall theme.

Any kind of rambling intellectual discourse on this topic is bs.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used without object)

to wander around in a leisurely, aimless manner: They rambled through the shops until closing time.

to take a course with many turns or windings, as a stream or path.

to grow in a random, unsystematic fashion: The vine rambled over the walls and tree trunks.

to talk or write in a discursive, aimless way (usually followed by on): The speaker rambled on with anecdote after anecdote.

verb (used with object)

to walk aimlessly or idly over or through: They spent the spring afternoon rambling woodland paths.

noun

a walk without a definite route, taken merely for pleasure.

Origin:
1610–20; origin uncertain

Synonyms
1. stroll, saunter, amble, stray, straggle. See roam.

Link To rambling

Collins

World English Dictionary

rambling (ˈræmblɪŋ)

—*adj*
1.	straggling or sprawling haphazardly; unplanned: a rambling old house
2.	(of speech or writing) lacking a coherent plan; diffuse and disconnected
3.	(of a plant, esp a rose) profusely climbing and straggling
4.	nomadic; wandering

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ramble

mid-15c., perhaps frequentative of romen "to walk, go" (see roam), perhaps via romblen (late 14c.) "to ramble." The vowel change probably by infl. of M.Du. rammelen, a derivative of rammen "copulate," "used of the night wanderings of the amorous cat" [Weekley]. Meaning "to

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talk or write incoherently" is from 1630s.

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Matching Quote

"When I first paddled a boat on Walden, it was completely surrounded by thick and lofty pine and oak woods, and in some of its coves grape-vines had run over the trees next the water and formed bowers under which a boat could pass. The hills which form its shores are so steep, and the woods on them were then so high, that, as you looked down from the west end, it had the appearance of an amphitheatre for some kind of sylvan spectacle.... But since I left those shores the woodchoppers have still further laid them waste, and now for many a year there will be no more rambling through the aisles of the wood, with occasional vistas through which you see the water. My Muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth. How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down?"

-Henry David Thoreau

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