drifter

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈdrɪftər/ UK /ˈdrɪftə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person who moves aimlessly from place to place or job to job

A quiet drifter, he never stayed in one town for long.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person who moves... wanderer vagrant rover nomad vagabond rambler itinerant

Opposites

settler

Word family

Related forms drift drive

Etymology

From 'drift' + agentive '-er'. 'Drift' is from Middle English, from Old Norse 'drift' ('snowdrift') and related to Old English 'drīfan' ('to drive'); the sense of one who drifts aimlessly is figurative.

drīfan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# drifter

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈdrɪftər/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈdrɪftə/

## Meanings
1. a person who moves aimlessly from place to place or job to job

## Examples
- A quiet drifter, he never stayed in one town for long.

## Synonyms
- wanderer
- vagrant
- rover
- nomad
- vagabond
- rambler
- itinerant

## Antonyms
- settler

## Related Forms
- drift
- drive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: drīfan

## Etymology
From 'drift' + agentive '-er'. 'Drift' is from Middle English, from Old Norse 'drift' ('snowdrift') and related to Old English 'drīfan' ('to drive'); the sense of one who drifts aimlessly is figurative.

## AI Etymology
Drifter is from 'drift' + agentive '-er'. 'Drift' is from Middle English, from Old Norse 'drift' ('snowdrift') and related to Old English 'drīfan' ('to drive'); the sense of one who drifts aimlessly is figurative. The immediate etymological form is Old English drīfan. The suffix -er marks an agent, instrument, or associated person, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as a noun, it means "a person who moves aimlessly from place to place or job to job", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. The figurative development named in the history lets the word move from a concrete base into a broader descriptive use. Related words include drift and drive.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown