wandering[adjective]Synonyms: nomadic, itinerant, migratory, peripatetic, rootless, roving, travelling, vagrant, wayfaring
[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲
wandering ppl adjective.
['wɒnd(ǝ)rɪŋ] OE.[formed as WANDERER + -ING2.]1. Of a person or animal: travelling from place to place without a fixed route or destination, aimlessly roaming, vagrant.
OE.b. Nomadic, migratory.
LME.2. a. Of the mind, thoughts, etc.: passing randomly from one subject to another, vague, restless.
LME.b. Of a celestial body, esp. a planet: not fixed, having a separate individual motion.
E16.c. Of a road, river, etc.: lying in an irregularly bending line, winding, meandering.
M16.d. Of a thing: travelling or carried along in an uncertain or frequently changing direction; moving to and fro.
L16.e. Of the eyes: roving, turning this way and that.
L16.f. Of a plant: sending out long tendrils, runners, or trailing shoots. Cf.
wandering Jew (c),
wandering sailor below.
L16.g. Medicine &
Physiology. Of a disease, pain, cell, etc.: moving randomly from one part of the body to another.
L16.h. Medicine. Of an organ etc.: too loosely fixed in place; abnormally movable.
L19.3. Of a journey, life, etc.: characterized by wandering.
L16.4. Deviating or straying from the right path or a fixed course;
fig. (of a person) erring, disloyal.
E17.Special collocations:
wandering cell History of Science an amoeboid cell.
wandering fire will-o'-the-wisp.
wandering hands colloq. (freq.
joc.) a tendency on the part of a man to fondle female colleagues or acquaintances uninvited.
wandering Jew (a) (with
the) in medieval legend, a man who insulted Jesus on the day of the Crucifixion and was condemned to roam the world until the Day of Judgement;
(b) fig. any person who indulges in restless and unprofitable travelling from place to place;
(c) any of various creeping or trailing plants;
esp. any of several spiderworts,
Tradescantia albiflora,
T. fluminensis, and
T. zonata, grown as house-plants.
wandering nerve =
VAGUS.
wandering sailor (a) ivy-leaved toadflax,
Cymbalaria muralis;
(b) creeping Jenny,
Lysimachia nummularia.
wandering star (now
arch. &
literary) a planet.
■ wanderingly adverb M16. [TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲
wandering verbal noun.
['wɒnd(ǝ)rɪŋ] LME.[formed as WANDERER + -ING1.]1. a. Travelling from place to place without a fixed route or destination; aimless roaming. Also, an instance of this (freq. in
pl.).
LME.b. The process of a person's mind or thoughts passing from one subject to another.
LME.c. Devious or erratic movement from place to place; irregular turning (esp. of the eyes) this way and that.
E19.polar wandering: see
POLAR adjective.
2. Deviation from one's intended path; straying.
E18.3. Mental illness, delirium; (in
pl.) incoherent ramblings.
M19. [TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲