rolling stone
2
4.6
- noun
- /ˈroʊlɪŋ stoʊn/
:
nómada
- People often call her a rolling stone because she enjoys traveling and changing careers frequently.
Examples
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My father was a rolling stone.
-
Well, you see, Mary, I've always been sort of a rolling stone.
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You're a rolling stone.
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My father was a rolling stone who never stayed in one place for long.
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He has always been a rolling stone, moving from one job to another without settling down.
Synonyms
46
5.9
A person who moves from place to place and has no permanent home or steady job
23
3.9
A person who travels without a fixed home or purpose
1
5.1
A person who moves from place to place without staying long
1
8.0
A person who goes from place to place to find work
A person who travels from place to place for work
A strong wish to travel and live in different places
Antonyms
How Mobile
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'rolling' easily evokes continuous movement and 'stone' is used metaphorically, so a learner can partly infer that a 'rolling stone' describes someone who moves about. However, the full idiomatic sense of a person who never settles or stays in one job is a cultural/metaphorical extension (linked to the proverb 'a rolling stone gathers no moss') and is not fully predictable from the parts alone, even though similar proverbs exist in many languages.
Etymology
Rolling stone may come from the old saying 'a rolling stone gathers no moss'. The image is of a stone that keeps moving and cannot grow moss, so a 'rolling stone' is someone who keeps moving and does not settle.