Synonyms for stray
- verb
- adjective
- noun
Definitions
- v. 1
To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.
- v. 2
To wander from company or outside proper limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray.
- adj. 1
Having gone astray; strayed; wandering.
The alley is full of stray cats rummaging through the garbage.
- n. 1
Any domestic animal that lacks an enclosure, proper place, or company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray.
Forms
- Plural
- strays
- Past participle
- strayed
e.g. strayed → wandered, deviated, roamed, rambled…
Choose the right word
To stray is to go in a somewhat purposeless way aside from the regular path or usual limits or abode, usually with unfavorable implication; cattle stray from their pastures; an author strays from his subject; one strays from the path of virtue. Stray is in most uses a lighter word than wander.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- wander You had better not wander around here by yourself.
- roam Those rogue rebels do not deserve to roam the Earth.
- deviate Do not deviate from the standard operating procedure.
By length
- 3 letters
- err1
- 4 letters
- lost1, roll1, cast1, swan1, roam1, rove1, waif1
- 5 letters
- range1, drift1, tramp1
- 6 letters
- random2, wander2, depart2, stroll1, swerve1, ramble2
- 7 letters
- deviate3, diverge2, digress2, vagrant2, saunter2
- 8 letters
- isolated4, sporadic3, vagabond3, straggle2, divagate
- 9 letters
- wandering3, desultory4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (random2 = 2 syllables).