wander
pronunciation
How to pronounce wander in British English:
UK [ˈwɒndə(r)]
How to pronounce wander in American English:
US [ˈwɑːndər]
-
- Verb:
- move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment
- be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage
- go via an indirect route or at no set pace
- to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course
- lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking
Word Origin
- wander
- wander: [OE] To wander is etymologically to ‘turn’ off the correct path. The word comes, together with German wandern, from a prehistoric West Germanic *wandrōjan, which was derived from the base *wand-, *wend- ‘turn’ (source also of English wand, went, etc). The German compound wanderlust, literally ‘traveldesire’, was borrowed into English at the beginning of the 20th century.=> wand, went
- wander (v.)
- Old English wandrian "move about aimlessly, wander," from West Germanic *wandran "to roam about" (cognates: Old Frisian wondria, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wanderen, German wandern "to wander," a variant form of the root represented in Old High German wantalon "to walk, wander"), from PIE root *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (see wind (v.1)). In reference to the mind, affections, etc., attested from c. 1400. Related: Wandered; wandering. The Wandering Jew of Christian legend first mentioned 13c. (compare French le juif errant, German der ewige Jude).
Example
- 1. A poet would wander around reading his work .
- 2. A wander through the colonial concessions is the best way to start a night in tianjin .
- 3. He and his son wander through the old city of jerusalem , snapping photos as they go .
- 4. Today , up to ten dogs wander with blueberry through the four floors of trx 's san francisco office .
- 5. Visitors can wander through dewy tea plantations and bamboo forests , or swim in a reservoir to the buzz of cicadas .