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wander

[won-der]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used without object)

to ramble without a definite purpose or objective; roam, rove, or stray: to wander over the earth.

to go aimlessly, indirectly, or casually; meander: The river wanders among the rocks.

to extend in an irregular course or direction: Foothills wandered off to the south.

to move, pass, or turn idly, as the hand or the eyes.

(of the mind, thoughts, desires, etc.) to take one direction or another without conscious intent or control: His attention wandered as the speaker droned on.

EXPAND

to stray from a path, place, companions, etc.: During the storm the ship wandered from its course.

to deviate in conduct, belief, etc.; err; go astray: Let me not wander from Thy Commandments.

to think or speak confusedly or incoherently.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

to travel about, on, or through: He wandered the streets.

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Wander is one of our favorite verbs.

So is fletcherise. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

10.

Mechanics. the drift of a gyroscope or a similar device.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English wandren, Old English wandrian (cognate with German wandern), frequentative of wendan to wend; see -er⁶

Related forms

wan·der·er, noun

out·wan·der, verb (used with object)

Synonyms
1. range, stroll. 2. saunter. 6. swerve, veer. 8. ramble, rave.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To wander

Example Sentences

Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go.

Because it is selectively managed and visitors are invited to wander about, this forest is actually a garden.

People squat or wander in streets filled with sand and rubbish.

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Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go.

Because it is selectively managed and visitors are invited to wander about, this forest is actually a garden.

People squat or wander in streets filled with sand and rubbish.

They have even been known to attack humans who wander too close to their young.

People reported being happiest when engaged in what they were doing versus allowing their minds to wander.

Take plenty of water and wander about without the tour.

We wander to the far corner, where a liquor store displays cognac and eaux-de-vie.

Your mind will probably wander while you read this article.

There, before it finds its buyer, cool people can wander through and smile at one another.

Which also means that they sometimes wander off in search of a better place to stay if the mood takes them.

Red crabs can stop traffic, puncture tires, and wander through any open doors during their migration to the sea.

Jupiter-size planets that were kicked out of their solar systems and left to wander space on their own.

Some of the visitors hang back, stare dubiously, then wander off.

Wander the labyrinth, snip your own herbs, and buy organic flowers and veggies direct from the source.

There is the sense, illusory but seductive, that one could wander this world indefinitely.

Clusters of teenage girls sleep in the open streets while others wander the camps alone.

And so they often wander away from the comforts of health-care insurance.

Go on a pleasant wander through the voices of all the continents.

Bipedalism gave us an advantage over our ape cousins in terms of our capacity to wander.

But that makes it a quiet, uncrowded spot to wander and get a feel for the ancients.

Be sure to save time to wander their display gardens and plant shop from their amazing selection.

To note that this is overkill would be to wander too-willingly across the threshold of absurdity.

It a allows me to wander around to my heart's content and still get good audio quality.

The other is a parallel, holistic exercise that lets the eyes wander around the page and take in many things in a single sweep.

They lie quietly, waiting for the right animal to wander by.

At the times when they seem to be awake, their eyes open and sometimes wander.

Visitors to the park can wander forested trails while learning about stories the poles tell.

Wander among impressive calcite formations erupting from the ground and hanging from the ceiling.

In the beginning your mind will trick you, you'll wander off on a train of thought and not even realize it for some time.

To explore the great religions is to wander through those gates.

Don't think you can wander in to take communion, though.

Scientists suspect the larger, more mysterious, rays are highly migratory animals that wander the world's seas.

But pandas are solitary creatures and prefer to wander.

They did not charge admission to their park, allowing visitors to wander freely among the rides and stands.

She regularly trims back any plants that wander too far into the path.

Not only must you build the dungeons, you then have to wander through them, slaying monsters and collecting treasures.

So they take out their frustrations on the next unsuspecting advice columnist who happens to wander along.

Swarms of young men and women, employees of broking firms, wander about with stacks of contract paperwork under their arms.

Mimes and other performers also wander the grounds offering free performances.

It will wander in and out of an actor's jacket, for example.

So as you wander the zoo's landscaped paths, give the other animals their due.

Scores of backpackers, boaters, and private pilots will wander off course this month and get lost.

The younger ones are particularly inclined to wander off into issues that have no bearing whatsoever on their jobs.

And instead of being imprisoned in cages to stop them colliding with people and machines, they will be free to wander.

At night he'd wander around with a few friends and talk about physics.

The site also keeps track of gifts you have browsed, making it easy to find them if you wander around a bit.

Wander over, read the article, and take a look at the list.

While one would wander off the road into the trees, another would sternly forge ahead and the other would be lagging behind.

And because banks have no physical plant beyond their branches, their value rests in their staff, who might wander off.

You're working at home and your mind starts to wander to snack possibilities.

Even if this isn't one of those conferences where people wander from session to session.

The antihydrogen was then free to wander towards the walls, and thus annihilation.

It was an amazing experience to wander through virtual terra incognita, this enormous untouched primeval forest.

Wander past petrified sand dunes, waterfalls, and red-tailed hawks on a free guided hike with.

People get in and out of cars or on and off of junks and yachts or wander through board rooms, houses and lobbies.

The interview was all day and allowed an hour of time for anyone who wanted to meet me to wander in and chat.

But wander through the capital, and aside from many people hanging around doing nothing, beggars are ever more common.

Some wander right up to the fence that separates them from the onlookers.

He had given himself a break from the work and let his imagination wander about the concepts of space and time.

The eyes wander toward the ceiling or floor, but not at me.

Some wander up and down the aisles while others never so much as.

Invigilators warn or disqualify test-takers whose eyes or hands wander in suspicious ways.

Then wander into the nearby shops, ranging from the.

Visitors may wander through the streets and studios of the village, where craftsmen make and sell their ceramics.

Brain regions active when our minds wander may hold a key to understanding neurological disorders.

We strapped the bracelet to our daughter's wrist and had her wander around the house while adjusting the distance dial.

The acutely mentally ill still wander our streets without adequate care, treatment or housing.

If you don't have time for a show, wander the outdoor sculpture garden or stroll the lake path, which has great views of the.

The phone can also be programmed to automatically ping the grown-ups should its owner wander out of a pre-defined safe zone.

They wander the countryside and encounter an expat vagabond who leads them.

They didn't know where to go, were afraid to wander off, so they were miserable.

While my attention can still wander substantially even when.

Walk off at the other end, and wander into their neighborhoods.

My grad students, especially, tended to wander in and out quite frequently.

He will wander from the beaches to the cities, looking for the unexpected, the untold and the weird but true.

He leads the way through darkened labs glowing with laser lights that wander paths of mirrors and lenses from room to room.

Children wander in, asking for juice, a snack or what's for dinner.

Where you start to wander into conflicts of interest, et al, is when the technology starts to actually interact with humans.

Many western states have open range laws that allow cattle to graze and wander on public lands.

As for the famous theme song, it tends to wander away on its own.

The ability to wander around a warehouse or hospital with a tablet linked into the network would be valuable.

Harbor seals, on the other hand, follow schools of sand lances and catch fish that wander from the school.

But in your paper you talk about the fact that it might be the case that both genes wander off to find new functions.

Apparently later you'll be able to wander around the bar and play arcade games, but this wasn't present in the demo version.

They wander around having adventures and supposedly learn something from their experience.

Anyone can wander into the parliament and it probably wouldn't be that hard to drive on to the airfield.

My neighbor told her kids that there were snakes in our yard so that the kids wouldn't wander into our backyard.

Deer wander in from the forest fringe and fog settles in the valley below.

As you wander around the park, the music will change depending on your location and the proximity of specific objects.

If you've to wander then look elsewhere and not this city.

It wasn't the best time to wander into the streets and make a call.

Enemies who happened to wander between us ate the lead.

It causes both output and inflation to wander arbitrarily far from their long-run levels.

Those are the books that have inspired me to wander the globe.

The show's format won't wander far afield of the group's world-record podcast.

Our debate should dare to wander away from narrow economics.

The wider swath allowed the pilots to wander a bit, going where the best winds will help push the plane along.

Reading plain words simply involves fewer parts of your brain, and makes it less likely to wander down a rabbit hole.

Wander around before meeting up with your companions.

The trouble being he wants to create the world around him rather than wander through someone else's vision.

People and animals wander about in brave indifference to the traffic and construction.

Many are also shot when they wander outside protected areas.

Others wander around the floor clutching touchscreen tablet devices that they use to tap in spur-of-the-moment wagers.

Bears wander everywhere, even the streets of cities, which is why the bear is the national symbol.

Homeless people wander the streets, housing is unaffordable, and public schools are struggling.

So it's no wonder that, good as it was, the same production second time round somehow leads the mind to wander.

And in the distant countryside men charge into battle and wander to market and the sun shines as it has on any other day.

Visitors and overnighters alike are invited to wander the property.

Wander through the old-fashioned arcades, with amazing staircases and atriums.

Groups of hungry, half-naked children and sullen, idle adults wander dirt paths.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

wander (ˈwɒndə)

—vb
1.	(also tr) to move or travel about, in, or through (a place) without any definite purpose or destination
2.	to proceed in an irregular course; meander
3.	to go astray, as from a path or course
4.	(of the mind, thoughts, etc) to lose concentration or direction
5.	to think or speak incoherently or illogically

—n
6.	the act or an instance of wandering

[Old English wandrian; related to Old Frisian wandria, Middle Dutch, Middle High German wanderen]

'wanderer

—n

'wandering

—*adj*, —n

'wanderingly

—*adv*

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

wander

O.E. wandrian "move about aimlessly, wander," from W.Gmc. *wandrojan (cf. O.Fris. wondria, M.L.G., M.Du. wanderen, Ger. wandern "to wander," a variant form of the root represented in O.H.G. wantalon "to walk, wander"), from base *wend- "to turn" (see wind (v.)). In ref. to

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the mind, affections, etc., attested from c.1400. The Wandering Jew of Christian legend first mentioned 13c. (cf. Fr. le juif errant, Ger. der ewige Jude).

COLLAPSE

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Matching Quote

"Without being bound to the fulfillment of promises, we would never be able to keep our identities; we would be condemned to wander helplessly and without direction in the darkness of each man's lonely heart, caught in its contradictions and equivocalities—a darkness which only the light shed over the public realm through the presence of others, who confirm the identity between the one who promises and the one who fulfills, can dispel."

-Hannah Arendt

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