Wander vs. Stray

Wanderverb

(intransitive) To move without purpose or specified destination; often in search of livelihood.

‘to wander over the fields’;

Straynoun

Any domestic animal that has no enclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray.

Wanderverb

(intransitive) To stray; stray from one's course; err.

‘A writer wanders from his subject.’;

Straynoun

(figuratively) One who is lost, either literally or metaphorically.

Wanderverb

(intransitive) To commit adultery.

Straynoun

The act of wandering or going astray.

Wanderverb

(intransitive) To go somewhere indirectly or at varying speeds; to move in a curved path.

Straynoun

(historical) An area of common land or place administered for the use of general domestic animals, i.e. "the stray"

Wanderverb

(intransitive) Of the mind, to lose focus or clarity of argument or attention.

Strayverb

(intransitive) To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

Wandernoun

The act or instance of wandering.

‘To go for a wander’;

Strayverb

(intransitive) To wander from one's limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray.

Wanderverb

To ramble here and there without any certain course or with no definite object in view; to range about; to stroll; to rove; as, to wander over the fields.

‘They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins.’; ‘He wandereth abroad for bread.’;

Strayverb

To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.

Wanderverb

To go away; to depart; to stray off; to deviate; to go astray; as, a writer wanders from his subject.

‘When God caused me to wander from my father's house.’; ‘O, let me not wander from thy commandments.’;

Strayverb

(transitive) To cause to stray.

Wanderverb

To be delirious; not to be under the guidance of reason; to rave; as, the mind wanders.

Strayadjective

Having gone astray; strayed; wandering

‘The alley is full of stray cats rummaging through the garbage.’;

Wanderverb

To travel over without a certain course; to traverse; to stroll through.

Strayadjective

In the wrong place; misplaced.

‘a stray comma’;

Wanderverb

move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment;

‘The gypsies roamed the woods’; ‘roving vagabonds’; ‘the wandering Jew’; ‘The cattle roam across the prairie’; ‘the laborers drift from one town to the next’; ‘They rolled from town to town’;

Strayverb

To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way.

‘Thames among the wanton valleys strays.’;

Wanderverb

be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage;

‘She cheats on her husband’; ‘Might her husband be wandering?’;

Strayverb

To wander from company, or from the proper limits; to rove at large; to roam; to go astray.

‘Now, until the break of day,Through this house each fairy stray.’; ‘A sheep doth very often stray.’;

Wanderverb

go via an indirect route or at no set pace;

‘After dinner, we wandered into town’;

Strayverb

Figuratively, to wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err.

‘We have erred and strayed from thy ways.’; ‘While meaner things, whom instinct leads,Are rarely known to stray.’;

Wanderverb

to move or cause to move in a sinuous, spiral, or circular course;

‘the river winds through the hills’; ‘the path meanders through the vineyards’; ‘sometimes, the gout wanders through the entire body’;

Strayverb

To cause to stray.

Wanderverb

lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking;

‘She always digresses when telling a story’; ‘her mind wanders’; ‘Don't digress when you give a lecture’;

Strayadjective

Having gone astray; strayed; wandering; as, a strayhorse or sheep.

Wanderverb

walk or move in a leisurely or aimless way

‘I wandered through the narrow streets’;

Straynoun

Any domestic animal that has an inclosure, or its proper place and company, and wanders at large, or is lost; an estray. Used also figuratively.

‘Seeing him wander about, I took him up for a stray.’;

Wanderverb

travel aimlessly through or over (an area)

‘he found her wandering the streets’;

Straynoun

The act of wandering or going astray.

Wanderverb

(of a road or river) meander

‘the narrow road wanders along the foreshore’;

Straynoun

homeless cat

Wanderverb

move slowly away from a fixed point or place

‘his attention had wandered’; ‘please don't wander off again’;

Strayverb

move about aimlessly or without any destination, often in search of food or employment;

‘The gypsies roamed the woods’; ‘roving vagabonds’; ‘the wandering Jew’; ‘The cattle roam across the prairie’; ‘the laborers drift from one town to the next’; ‘They rolled from town to town’;

Wanderverb

be unfaithful to one's regular sexual partner

‘he had married her and he was not going to be allowed to wander’;

Strayverb

wander from a direct course or at random;

‘The child strayed from the path and her parents lost sight of her’; ‘don't drift from the set course’;

Wandernoun

an act or instance of wandering

‘she'd go on wanders like that in her nightgown’;

Strayverb

lose clarity or turn aside especially from the main subject of attention or course of argument in writing, thinking, or speaking;

‘She always digresses when telling a story’; ‘her mind wanders’; ‘Don't digress when you give a lecture’;

Strayadjective

not close together in time;

‘isolated instances of rebellion’; ‘scattered fire’; ‘a stray bullet grazed his thigh’;

Strayverb

move away aimlessly from a group or from the right course or place

‘the military arrested anyone who strayed into the exclusion zone’; ‘dog owners are urged not to allow their dogs to stray’;

Strayverb

(of the eyes or a hand) move idly or casually

‘her eyes strayed to the telephone’;

Strayverb

be unfaithful to a spouse or partner

‘men who stray are seen as more exciting and desirable’;

Strayverb

wander or roam

‘over these mounds the shepherd strays’;

Strayadjective

not in the right place; separated from the group or target

‘she was killed by a stray bullet’; ‘he pushed a few stray hairs from her face’;

Strayadjective

(of a domestic animal) having no home or having wandered away from home

‘stray dogs’;

Strayadjective

(of a physical quantity) arising as a consequence of the laws of physics, but unwanted and usually having a detrimental effect on the operation of equipment

‘stray capacitance’;

Straynoun

a stray person or thing, especially a domestic animal.

Straynoun

electrical phenomena interfering with radio reception.