stray
[verb]
Synonyms:
- wander, drift, err, go astray
- digress, deviate, diverge, get off the point
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- lost, abandoned, homeless, roaming, vagrant
- random, accidental, chance

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Related Idioms: stray from the straight and narrow, get off the track, get sidetracked
Related Words: random, sporadic

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. stray¹ /streɪ/ verb [intransitive]
[Date: 1200-1300; Language: Old French; Origin: estraier, from Vulgar Latin extragare, from Latin extra- 'outside' + vagari 'to wander']

1. to move away from the place you should be
stray into/onto/from
Three of the soldiers strayed into enemy territory.

2. to begin to deal with or think about a different subject from the main one, without intending to
stray into/onto/from
We’re straying into ethnic issues here.
This meeting is beginning to stray from the point.

3. if your eyes stray, you begin to look at something else, usually without intending to
stray to/back/over etc
Her eyes strayed to the clock.

4. to start doing something that is wrong or immoral, when usually you do not do this

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. stray² adjective [only before noun]

1. a stray animal, such as a dog or cat, is lost or has no home

2. accidentally separated from other things of the same kind:
One man was hit by a stray bullet and taken to hospital.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

III. stray³ noun [countable]

1. an animal that is lost or has no home

2. informal someone or something that has become separated from others of the same kind
⇒ waifs and strays at waif(2)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

stray
verb
ADV. far The animals hadn't strayed too far.
accidentally, involuntarily Her eyes strayed involuntarily.
VERB + STRAY allow sth to new penalties for owners who allow their dogs to stray
PREP. from Be careful not to stray from the path.
into, off, to His eyes strayed to the telephone. (figurative) Her thoughts strayed to the journey ahead of her.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲