define wandering around aimlessly

Just arrived? Why not wander around the streets of Paris for a while?

Wander around

To wander around is to move around a place in a casual, aimless manner

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“Wander around.” This is a great phrasal verb to know.

To wander around is to move around a place in a casual, aimless manner. When you wander around, you don’t have a specific direction or purpose. You’re moving at a leisurely pace. You’re not looking at your watch. You’re not on a deadline. You don’t have a planned route.

When you wander around, the goal, the purpose is the movement, the exploration, the discovery; there’s no destination. And the key with “wander around” is that it’s a physical place. You can’t “wander around” a website. If you use “wander around,” you have to refer to a physical place.

When I travel, I often go to cities. And when I get to a new city, I always take some time on the first day to just wander around. I just did this in Oaxaca, a city in the south of Mexico. My flight got there around noon. I settled into my room. And then I wandered around for a few hours.

I walked around leisurely. I let my curiosity be my guide. I didn’t follow a route. I didn’t look at a map. I didn’t have a destination in mind. The whole goal, the whole purpose, was to walk wherever my curiosity took me. That’s “wander around.”

Often in the movies—does this happen in real life? I’m not sure—anyway, in the movies, if someone has a lot on their mind, they often wander around their own city at night. They walk around the streets—not with a destination in mind, but just for the sake of walking. I don’t do that. If I have a lot on my mind and I can’t sleep, I just toss and turn for hours. Maybe I should wander around a little bit to clear my head.

You can wander around inside, too. I like to wander around a bookstore. Bookstores are designed for people to wander around. There are so many sections. There are special displays. There are places to sit. There’s always something to discover. If you like to read, you can wander around the bookstore for a few minutes or a few hours. You go from here to there, you stop, you read a little, you let your eyes scan the shelves, you walk slowly, you go back and check something you saw before. This is wander around.

When I go shopping—if it’s not for books—I’m an in-and-out kind of a shopper. I don’t like to wander around the mall . It stresses me out. I want an objective. I want to go the store I need to go to. I want to get my stuff. And then I want to leave. I don’t like to wander around the mall.

But the mall was built for wandering, it was built for people who do like to wander around. There are lots of corridors. The escalators lead you to new places. There are fountains and food courts and entertainment and special displays. Every store has something different. If you like shopping, you might like to wander around the mall—you might even wander around for a few hours and not buy anything. Not my kind of entertainment, but maybe it’s yours.

You can wander around an office. If you work in a big office, you can walk up and down the corridors, go to different floors, chat with people, network. I just finished the Walter Isaacson biography of Elon Musk. And the book talks about how Musk likes to wander around the Tesla and SpaceX factories, talking to the engineers. He wanders around—he casually goes from place to place, talking to his employees.

Where else can you wander around? You can wander around a museum. If it’s a small museum, I like to go in order, I want a strategy. I’ll go room to room. But sometimes if the museum is really big, I like to wander around…to walk around without a strategy or plan.

You can wander around a park, a playground, or a zoo. I told you about my trip to Oaxaca. I went to the botanic gardens there. Typically, you can wander around the botanic gardens. But this one was different. This was a guided tour. You have to follow the path; you have to follow the tour guide. You’re not allowed to wander around.

See you next time!

And that is all for today’s Plain English. Nice job, you’ve got a new expression, a new phrasal verb to use. And you can practice using it, too, and get direct, personal, human feedback from me if you want to. It’s all at PlainEnglish.com. Right on the page with the transcript of this episode, there’s a practice area. You just write a sentence using “wander around,” and I’ll read it and give you feedback. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly in there, too.

The transcript part is free. The personal feedback on your writing is one of the benefits of Plain English Plus+. Make all your mistakes right there, in the web site, so that when you go out in the real world, you’re equipped, you’re confident, you’re prepared to use “wander around” and the hundreds of other expressions at PlainEnglish.com

That’s all for today. We’ll be back on Thursday with part two of today’s story. See you then.

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• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of aimlessly in English

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• His wife found him aimlessly wandering around in their back yard , unable to recognize her.
• She drove aimlessly for hours , stopping to fill the car with petrol then carrying on.
• After leaving the band he drifted aimlessly from job to job .
• aimlessness
• be at a loose end idiom
• fruitlessly
• fruitlessness
• no good idiom
• unrealistic
• unrealistically
• unseriousness
• until you are blue in the face idiom
• unviability

Translations of aimlessly

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Word of the Day

to press the button on the left of a computer mouse in order to make the computer do something

Robbing, looting, and embezzling: talking about stealing

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Definition of wander verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• + adv./prep. She wandered aimlessly around the streets.
• We wandered back towards the car.
• wander something The child was found wandering the streets alone.
• Don't go wandering all over the house!
• He just wandered in one day and asked for a job.
• He wandered into a bar and ordered a drink.
• One day she wandered further afield.
• Simply wandering is a pleasure in itself.
• The cattle are allowed to wander freely.
• They found him wandering around aimlessly.
• Visitors are free to wander through the gardens and woods.
• Cattle and sheep wander freely on the hilltops.
• During the day I would wander the streets, asking passers-by for a few cents.
• He was found wandering in the road late one night.
• She had spent her life wandering from place to place.
• They spent a couple of hours wandering through the markets.
• disconsolately
• allow somebody/​something to
• let somebody/​something
• find somebody wandering

Definitions on the go

Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.

wander in American English

Wander in british english, examples of 'wander' in a sentence wander, trends of wander.

View usage over: Since Exist Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically wander

• wand reader
• wander aimlessly
• wander alone
• wander an aisle
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'W'

Related terms of wander

• eyes wander
• wander plug
• polar wander
• View more related words

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Definition of wandering

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of wandering  (Entry 2 of 2)

• digressional
• digressionary

Examples of wandering in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wandering.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing wandering

wandering albatross

• wandering dude
• wandering eye
• wandering Jew

Dictionary Entries Near wandering

Cite this entry.

“Wandering.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wandering. Accessed 14 Aug. 2024.

Medical Definition

Medical definition of wandering.

Medical Definition of wandering  (Entry 2 of 2)

More from Merriam-Webster on wandering

Nglish: Translation of wandering for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of wandering for Arabic Speakers

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Is he 'wandering around aimlessly' an idiom?

No. It's just a statement that someone was wandering around aimlessly, or wandering without knowing where he was going.

Add your answer:

How do you spell aimlessly?

What part of speech is aimlessly.

Aimlessly is an adverb.

What is a word that means to walk aimlessly?

There are several words that mean 'to walk aimlessly', including:wandermeanderroam

How many suffixes does aimlessly have?

aimlessly has two suffixes. One being es , and the other being ly .

What does haver mean?

havering is scottish slang for chatting aimlessly havering is scottish slang for chatting aimlessly

What is meant by wandering?

Wandering means traveling aimlessly from place to place; itinerant.

Someone wandering aimlessly through a shopping mall?

A window shopper

What does wanderer mean?

Moving around with no plan or special direction, moving about aimlessly. Wandering is also a place in Western Australia.

What is the meaning of the idiom hung around?

To pass time aimlessly, maybe going from one place to the next without a specific purpose.

Can you start a sentence with the word aimlessly?

Aimlessly wandering through the desert sands, with the sun beating down, almost cost the explorer his life.

What are you doing when you are wandering?

When someone is wandering, they are aimlessly moving from place to place without a specific destination in mind. It can be a way to relax, clear one's mind, or explore new surroundings.

How would one define going nowhere?

going nowhere - lacking a sense of purpose, achieving nothing, wandering aimlessly.

Meaning someone wandering aimlessly through a shopping mall?

Is probably just browsing and not there to make a purchase. Hope I helped! :)

Wandering no set pattern?

Exploring without a predetermined route or direction. Aimlessly moving around without a specific goal or plan in mind. Embracing spontaneity and the freedom to roam freely.

What is the meaning of Indian Walk?

"Indian walk" is a slang term used to describe a way of pacing or wandering aimlessly around an area. It does not have any specific cultural or historical significance related to Native American or Indigenous peoples.

Who are the Masta Liu?

The Masta Liu is a group of young homeless/jobless people (mostly men), found in the streets of Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon Islands. To be specific: "Liu" is a Malaitan word for stroll and understood here as "Wandering Aimlessly" "Masta" is derived from English Master but specifically in this used as "Master of the Art" Masta Liu is therefore understood as "A Master in the Art of Wandering about Aimlessly"

Give one word for moving aimlessly around?

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