errant
6
7.8
- adjective
- /ˈɛrənt/
:
errante
- Farmers tend to deal with these errant plants in patterned ways that reflect cultural attitudes, values, and limitations.
- an errant shot
- an errant throw
- an errant pass
You got to watch out for the errant bits of nails in your pallet wood.
- You got to watch out for the errant bits of nails in your pallet wood.
- Well, parts of that was brought, you know, to the Chinese embassy and coincidentally, we had an errant bomb destroy the Chinese embassy.
Examples
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Maybe we can bring swing that errant pendulum back.
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As Erin watched, one errant light detached itself and began to fall.
Fiction book (2001) -
The mind, especially the young mind, left to its own devices, is errant and unpredictable; the body, well, indeed, even worse!
Academic text (2007) -
Dublin's amazing ability to catch errant discs makes me look better than I am.
Blog text (30) -
His eyes gleamed in the errant light reflecting in the floodwaters outside.
Fiction book (1996) -
A gentle wind toyed with errant strands of her hair, which shimmered like golden glass in the sunlight.
Fiction book (1996) -
An ink-stained hand grabs the errant newspaper and tosses it into a cart stacked with papers.
Fiction book (1992) -
The moon, like a sliver of errant quicksilver, disappeared behind scudding, high-flying clouds.
Fiction book (1994) -
The distiller himself was crouched over the fire, poking errant bits of charcoal back into the grate.
Fiction book (1992) -
The ball went errant and landed far from the intended target.
Synonyms
1
7.5
Having made a mistake or done something wrong
Antonyms
Compounds
- Archaic
1
9.9
A person from the Middle Ages who travels to find adventures and help people
How Irregular
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word errant comes from the Latin errare, which means 'to wander'. Think of a 'knight-errant' — a knight who wanders from place to place — so errant often describes something that has strayed from its path or moves in an unpredictable way.