to wander the streets
11
2.9
- phrasal verb
:
pasear por las calles
- When I wasn't working, I found myself wandering the streets.
- wander the streets aimlessly
- wandering the streets at night
- wandered the streets for hours
Someone wandering the streets at night, scrawling things on the wall, pinning up different newspaper articles and connecting them with red string.
- Someone wandering the streets at night, scrawling things on the wall, pinning up different newspaper articles and connecting them with red string.
Examples
-
In a shadowy New York City, characters who are part myth, part reality, wander the streets.
Fiction book (1997) -
I found him wandering the streets of London as I left Willoughby's.
-
I found her wandering the streets like this.
-
Max spent the evening wandering the streets above the port.
Fiction book (1995) -
For hours, I wandered the streets of the city.
-
Unaware of what year it was, Joe wandered the streets, desperate for help.
-
The war ended three years ago, but its shattered survivors wander the streets.
Fiction book (1997) -
At lunchtime, she wandered the streets, looked in store windows, and ate a sandwich at Woolworth's counter.
Fiction book (1990) -
On October 3, 1849, Poe was found wandering the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, delirious.
Blog text (1) -
For hours, I wandered the streets of the city.
Synonyms
379
1.3
Move around without a fixed direction, often slowly and in curves
214
1.7
To go on foot in a place without a clear purpose, often for pleasure
189
2.5
Move around without a fixed place, often while looking for something
122
1.8
To walk slowly and enjoy it
9
3.7
Move around slowly in a place without any clear purpose, often in a group
8
3.1
To move around a place on your feet without a clear purpose
8
7.6
To walk around without a clear plan, often slowly and without much energy
6
5.0
Moving from place to place without a clear purpose
4
6.9
To walk around without a clear purpose
3
6.8
To walk slowly through a place without a clear purpose
3
9.0
To move around places for pleasure without a plan
2
8.2
To travel without a set plan to explore and think
1
9.7
To walk around without a clear destination for pleasure
1
6.5
To move around slowly doing small jobs in no hurry
1
9.9
Move around without a clear plan or purpose
To walk slowly without a clear purpose
Walk around slowly without a plan
To travel slowly without a clear plan
To go from place to place for fun without a plan
Antonyms
How Aimless
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to walk around urban areas aimlessly' is directly derivable from combining 'wander' (to move about aimlessly) with 'the streets' (public roads in a town or city); the definite article does not create an idiomatic shift. This verb + noun composition is a common, compositional pattern found across many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Wander the streets shows a simple picture: a person wandering along the streets, moving slowly and without a plan. So, it means 'to walk around a town or city with no particular purpose'.