Wandering

Part of speech: adjective, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈwɑndəɹɪŋ/

Definitions

1. Meandering without a determined course or intention
2. Roaming unpredictably in search of new experiences or sights
3. Moving aimlessly from place to place without a set destination ; traveling about to discover new experiences or environments

Etymology: "Wandering" is simply "wander" with the ending "-ing" added, and it does its work in two grammatical roles: as the participle of the verb, and as an adjective describing something that roams. The verb "wander" goes back to Old English "wandrian", meaning to walk about without a fixed course, and its family of words is connected to "wend", meaning to go or turn one's way. So the core idea of the word is movement without a set destination, and that has stayed constant from the earliest English to the present. The adjective sense, the one in your definition, grew naturally from the verb's participle. A "wandering" person or animal is one that is currently in the act of wandering, and over time that description hardened into a standing quality. Phrases like "wandering minstrel" or "wandering Jew" show the adjectival use taking on a settled character, describing a kind of person rather than a single action.

Synonyms: roaming, drifting, meandering, straying, ranging

Antonyms: settled, fixed, stationary, anchored, rooted